Tuesday we reported that the San Diego Convention Center Corp. purchased the land needed for a potential expansion for $13.5 million from a private developer. I should have been clearer about what the nonprofit city-run corporation actually bought.
The Convention Center acquired a lease — not the land — from the developer, Fifth Avenue Landing LLC. The developer leased the land from the Port Commission, which controls 2,500 acres of land along San Diego Bay on behalf of the state. That’s a reason, as I noted in my blog post, the Port needs to sign off on the Convention Center deal before it’s final.
The Port is also involved is because it receives money each year from the leaseholders. That’s the main difference between buying a lease and buying the land outright. Port spokesman Ron Powell said Fifth Avenue Landing was paying the Port $470,000 annually for the rights it transferred to the Convention Center.
Now the Convention Center will be paying the Port for that land on top of the $13.5 million it used to buy the lease.
“There will be terms that will be worked out,” Powell said.
The Port will address the item at its Dec. 1 meeting.