At the same time, the San Diego City Council zoned so much suburban land for commercial development that millions more square feet of space were built on cheaper dirt, far from the nasty social elements of inner cities, and tenants were attracted there instead of Downtown. Just as the decline of Downtown in the 1960s and 1970s was directly attributable to the rise of Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa development, so could its stagnation in the late 1980s and early 1990s be blamed in part on the rise of the Golden Triangle. That's sort of what helped convince CCDC President Peter Hall that public financing of some marketing to attract tenants to Downtown office buildings was no less appropriate than the pretty brochures, cross-country trips, land assembly and public energy that went into assisting Ernest Hahn in attracting retailers to Horton Plaza. D.C. Some 45 or 50 companies were represented. Some had relocated in Rancho Bernardo or along I-15, some in Mission Valley, only two or three in Downtown, although SpaWar headquarters were established nearly adjacent to Lindbergh Field in the old Air Force Plant 19 near the Midway Drive Post Office, while the SpaWar Navy command cozied into the old NOSC facility across the bay from Downtown on Point Loma.
Some consultants have yet to relocate.
Some who've located in San Diego plan to expand or relocate to larger facilities. CCDC solicited corporate donations to get the brochure printed. But, unlike the EDC, CCDC staff does not routinely plan elaborate trade missions, its marketing material is sparse and its persistence and follow-up with possible tenants are still new concepts. Historically, CCDC has been all about negotiating with developers, not attracting office users. But Hall is coming around.