Derailed for decades, the project proposed to turn the nondescript alleyway at the end of B Street, just north of downtown San Diego’s Santa Fe Depot, into a pedestrian-friendly access point for the transit station is now on track to be completed by next summer.

Last week, San Diego City Council members voted unanimously to approve a contract with city consultant Civic San Diego to construct what’s known as the B Street Pedestrian Corridor project.

Council members also authorized spending $2.2 million on the enhanced sidewalk project, using a little more than $2 million from a fund set up to pay for the outstanding obligations of the city’s dissolved redevelopment agency.

The project will replace the existing alley between Kettner Boulevard and the train station at the western terminus of B Street.

The pedestrian corridor will feature board-formed concrete, brick pavers, new lighting, new bollards and a new wall with a San Diego-themed graphic adjacent to the Stone Brewing restaurant in the neighboring McClintock Building, Christina Bibler, the director of San Diego’s Economic Development Department, told the Union-Tribune.

The City Council actions advance the B Street Pedestrian Corridor project to the construction phase, which is expected to start in September after final sign-off from the county and state.

“This is a project that has been decades in the making. It’s going to provide much-needed pedestrian improvements. It’ll make it easier for people to access public transportation. It’ll increase safety around the Santa Fe Depot for downtown residents and visitors alike,” Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said at the June 30 meeting.

The corridor project has a complicated past that dates to 1993, when the city’s former redevelopment agency amended its contract with the depot’s then-owner, Catellus Development Corporation, to allow for redevelopment of the land around the station.

A separate agreement between Catellus, the redevelopment agency, the city and the Museum of Contemporary Art — approved in 2002 and executed in 2004 — transferred the depot’s baggage building at 1100 Kettner Blvd. to the museum. The transfer agreement required the city’s redevelopment agency to construct the public pathway at its expense, with the museum obligated to contribute $150,000 toward costs.

In the years since, the former redevelopment agency worked to come up with a project scope, but ran into various obstacles given the intricacies of the corridor and the various stakeholders, Bibler said. Then, in 2012, redevelopment agencies were dissolved by the state and their obligations transferred to successor agencies.

The change halted active progress, which remained stalled until 2019. That’s when the city settled litigation related to its relationship with Civic San Diego. At the time, Civic was a city-owned nonprofit operating as downtown’s planning agency while also overseeing wind-down functions of the redevelopment agency.

Civic then reorganized as an independent public benefit company. It now serves as a city consultant on redevelopment agency obligations.

The new framework cleared the way for the city to resume work on the B Street Pedestrian Corridor project, which is recognized by the state as an obligation of the former redevelopment agency, although the next few years were spent resolving land-use and access requirements, Bibler said. The effort culminated in 2024 with a multi-party agreement that allowed the museum to sell the former baggage building to the University of California Regents for use by UC San Diego as an arts campus. The agreement re-formalized the city’s commitment to construct the public access improvements and secured the museum’s $150,000 contribution at the close of escrow.

Council members last week approved the compensation agreement with Civic San Diego, which is acting as the developer and will oversee completion of the project.

The B Street Pedestrian Corridor project has a total cost of $2.2 million, which includes $635,000 for design-related work and $1 million for construction costs. The budget also identifies $245,250 for project contingencies. Civic San Diego is collecting $282,083, or 15% of project costs, as a developer administration fee, according to the cost estimate in the compensation agreement.

The sidewalk project is primarily being paid for with $2 million from the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund. The account, administered by the county, holds the property tax increment dollars that previously funded redevelopment agencies. The expenditure first requires approval by the County of San Diego’s Oversight Board and then review by the California Department of Finance. No general fund dollars are being used to finance the corridor.

Council members approved the compensation agreement and authorized project expenditures as part of the June 30 consent agenda, meaning the actions were considered routine and grouped alongside other items for approval with minimal discussion. The item was approved 6 to 0. Councilmembers Vivian Moreno, Marni von Wilpert and Henry Foster were absent.

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