Balancing old and new: commercial remodeling in an historic district

San Diego Business Journal, August 30, 2004 by Randy Levinson, Brian Rickling

In 1999, when the City selected The Corky McMillin Companies to redevelop the former Naval Training Station in Point Loma, they started the ball roiling on a 360-acre, historic, waterfront redevelopment project that will serve San Diego citizens for years to come.

The Naval Training Center Historic District, which encompasses more than 60 structures, will be adaptively reused and renovated for a wide range of retail, dining, educational, office, non profit and cultural uses. In addition, a mixture of other uses--including parks, homes, hotels, recreational amenities and schools--will round out what promises to become a vibrant, live-work-play community.

Part of what makes Liberty Station unique is its well-known military history. Of the many dozens of existing buildings at Liberty Station, more than 60 are designated as historic structures. The historic buildings will follow The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (The Standards) during the remodeling process. These guidelines have been prepared to determine acceptable alterations, additions and renovations within the NTC Historic District, and have been approved at the local, state and federal levels.

Along with Balboa Park, Liberty Station is one of a few sites in San Diego listed on both the local and national historic registers. At Liberty Station, it is the history of the site and the 64 contributing buildings that makes the site worthy of the national historic district designation.

The first step McMillin took to preserve the historic district was to hire Heritage Architecture & Planning, formerly known as Architect Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA, to conduct an historic assessment of the 64 listed buildings. The team at Heritage Architecture, led by Brian Rickling and Eileen Magno, created the Naval Training Center Guidelines for the Treatment of Historic Properties (NTC Guidelines).

The NTC Guidelines were reviewed by the City of San Diego Historic Resources Board, City Planning Department, City Council, State Historic Preservation Office, and the National Park Service. These guidelines serve as a technical aid for rehabilitation of everything from historic landscape materials to paint analysis, appropriate architectural materials, windows, stucco, mechanical and electrical issues, health and safety codes and more. It is a comprehensive manual to encourage respectful rehabilitation of the irreplaceable historic properties at the Naval Training Center.

Historic preservation authorities understand that in order for a building to remain useful for future generations, some adaptations may be necessary. In this case, adaptive reuse of the historic buildings is possible, as long as the developer follows the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and the approved NTC Guidelines.

While historic preservation can be cumbersome, it also makes financial incentives available to the developer. That is, for every $1 spent on "qualified" historic rehabilitation, the developer may become eligible for $0.20 "dollar for dollar" tax credits. Since 1976, the National Park Service has administered the Preservation Tax Incentives program in partnership with the Internal Revenue Service and with the State Historic Preservation Officers. Current tax incentives for preservation, established by the Tax Reform Act of 1986 include 20 percent tax credit for certified rehabilitation of certified historic properties.

To ensure that appropriate projects and renovations were being implemented at Liberty Station, McMillin assembled a consultant team to assist with rehabilitation within the historic core. The team, comprised of experts in historic property rehabilitation, accounting, land use and development, plan to commence rehabilitation of the first project within the NTC Historic District in 2005--Buildings 6, 7 and 195, formerly the Naval Training Center Hospital.

Built in 1922 and 1942 respectively, these redeveloped buildings will be occupied by doctors, dentists and other professionals serving the local community. Since the buildings were originally used as medical offices and dispensaries at the Naval Training Center, this was a sensible reuse that will maintain the integrity of the buildings' original use, character and features.

Four new "classA" orifice buildings are planned within the NTC Historic District, one of which has been completed, with another under construction. Although new construction is not subject to the same guidelines as the existing historic buildings, the new designs must complement--but not replicate--the nearby historic buildings.

A trained eye can easily tell the difference between the new building and the adjacent historic buildings. At Liberty Station, the new building complements the historic district without seeming out of place, while maintaining subtle differences from the existing historic core.

Renovation of the NTC historic district is a project that mixes both new and old, incorporating rehabilitation, adaptive reuse and new construction.