Construction to Begin on New Bay Tour Operator Facilities

Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Contact: Marguerite Elicone (619) 686-6222, (619) 686-6281

Construction is scheduled to begin at the end of this week on two new bay tour facilities on San Diego's North Embarcadero.

Port tenants Flagship Cruises & Events and Hornblower Cruises and Events will be relocating to new facilities which will be constructed just south of Broadway Pier. The move is primarily to minimize conflicts with cruise ship operations, but will also make improvements associated with the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan Phase I beautification project.

Waterside improvements for both bay tour operators are anticipated to be completed in April 2012, with utility improvements to be completed in June 2012.

Flagship Cruises & Events, which currently operates at 1050 North Harbor Drive (map), between Broadway Pier and the B Street Pier, will be developing a new facility between the Navy Pier and Broadway Pier at 900 North Harbor Drive. Flagship's new facility will feature shore power, which will allow the Flagship fleet to plug into clean electricity. The project will result in new waterside facilities, including approximately 8,000 square feet of floats and gangways.

Flagship will berth its ferries, bay tour, whale watching and public dining cruise vessels at the new location and berth its charter vessels at Fifth Avenue Landing, behind the San Diego Convention Center.

At the same time, Hornblower Cruises and Events, currently at 1066 North Harbor Drive (map), will be building new facilities. A gangway and dock will be built along the first 400 feet of Navy Pier, located at 910 North Harbor Drive, to service bay tours, whale watching and public dining cruises.

Additionally, Hornblower is adding about 6,000 square feet of floating docks adjacent to the Grape Street Pier 3, located off of the foot of Grape Street and North Harbor Drive. Hornblower will use this location for charter cruises, overnight berthing, and provisioning of its vessels.

The 14-space parking lot at 900 North Harbor Drive, just south of the Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier, was closed off on January 25 to allow construction equipment to be moved in. About 10 trees will be removed, but will later be replaced with new jacaranda trees as part of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan Phase I project.

Construction fencing will be erected between Navy Pier and Broadway Pier on Friday, January 27. There will be times when construction activity will cause temporary closure of the promenade along the water on North Harbor Drive between Navy and Broadway Piers. This is to allow for the installation of floating docks and other waterside equipment. In these instances, a pedestrian path will be created, to allow pedestrians to access the west side of North Harbor Drive.

Landside improvements for both bay tour operators will be constructed as part of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan's Phase I project and will include new ticket kiosks and a sundries kiosk. These are anticipated to be completed in 2013.

The Port of San Diego was created by the state Legislature in 1962. Since then, it has invested $1.7 billion in public improvements in its five member cities: Imperial Beach, San Diego, Coronado, Chula Vista and National City.

The Port oversees two maritime cargo terminals, a cruise ship terminal, 17 public parks, various wildlife reserves and environmental initiatives, the Harbor Police Department and the leases of more than 600 tenant and sub-tenant businesses around San Diego Bay.