Padres Owner Buys Downtown Site

SAN DIEGO-In the largest private land acquisition in Downtown’s fledgling BallparkDistrict yet, a company owned by John Moores—who also owns baseball’s Padres–hasacquired eight city blocks in the East Village area for $24.3 million.JMIR Downtown Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of Moores-owned JMI RealtyInc., the master developer of the 26-block ballpark redevelopmentproject, bought the land from San Diego Gas & Electric and the utility’sparent, Sempra Energy.About one-third of the 26-block area is designated for the ballpark, traffic rights-of-way and other items. The remainder will be the site ofseveral private developments, including a 426,000-sfhigh-technology office park and a planned 34-story office tower.The eight-block area is bounded by K Street on the north, MTDB Rail Yardon the south, 13th Avenue on the east and 9th Avenue on the west. Demolition,remediation and construction work has already begun in some areas.”This acquisition marks another crucial milestone in the development ofthe ballpark and surrounding redevelopment area,” says Dennis Cruzan, JMI Realty’smanaging director. “We, along with the Padres, are now one giant stepcloser to transforming this underutilized area into a vibrant 24-hourlive, work and play neighborhood.”