Balboa Park Buildings In Need Of Millions In Repairs And Upgrades

An assessment of city parks found Balboa Park buildings are in need of an estimated $120M in repairs to restore them to “good” condition, but park officials say it would cost $285M to put them in “perfect” shape, and even more if proposed expansions are included, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. This assessment does not include upgrades to make the buildings seismically safe or compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Buildings with the greatest need include the San Diego Air & Space Museum ($15.2M), Casa de Balboa ($11.5M), San Diego Automotive Museum ($8.3M), Veterans Museum and Memorial Center ($4.6M), Starlight Bowl ($4.5M) and the Old Globe theater ($4.4M).

Balboa Park’s other amenities, including playgrounds, sports fields and tennis courts, could be upgraded to perfect condition for $11.7M, but these are already in good condition, according to the city’s rating scale. Amenities at many of the other 75 city parks assessed would require a total of $86M to get them in perfect shape, or $24.8M to restore them to good condition. Park assessments are still underway, as San Diego has 249 parks, totaling 2,675 acres. The park assessments are part of an ongoing effort to evaluate the cost of catching up a backlog in infrastructure improvements estimated to be as high as $5B.

Over the last three years, the city has completed assessments of streets, sidewalks and buildings. San Diego voters approved a $1.5B bond issue in the November election for upgrades to Balboa Park and regional parks that will be repaid with lease revenue at Mission Bay Park.