How $1B Makeover Will Reshape Chula Vista’s Bayfront in 2025
Daniel Fefferman | February 5, 2025
San Diego News
Daniel Fefferman | February 5, 2025
San Diego News
A massive resort and convention center in Chula Vista will finally be debuting along the city’s shimmering bayfront this summer.
The Port of San Diego and Chula Vista are putting their funds together to give the city’s bayfront a billion-dollar makeover that will redevelop 535 acres to include a new hotel and convention center, carveouts for more park space, a recreational vehicle resort and more.
Here’s the status on those upcoming projects.
Chula Vista broke ground on the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center back in July 2022, and officials say the resort and center will open to the public in the summer.
Nearly 2 million square feet and 22 stories high, the resort will have 1,600 rooms, restaurants, a sports bar, a pool and a variety of other recreational facilities, according to the project website.
The convention center will have four ballrooms, three levels of meeting space, two outdoor meeting spaces, lawns to host events, public promenades, places to shop and more, according to the port.
Chula Vista officials say the project will cost an estimated $1.35 billion, including $275 million in public bond funding. Officials say the project will create 4,000 permanent jobs and “have an economic impact of half-a-billion dollars each year.”
The 21-acre Sweetwater Park — expected to open “early” in the year, officials say — will likely be among the first of several projects to be completed along the new bayfront this year.
Via the Sweetwater Bicycle Path and Promenade, the park will connect with the Bayside Park and the marinas to the Living Coast Discovery Center and the Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay RV resort, which opened in 2021.
The park was designed to have a recreational open space that is “natural habitat-oriented” to showcase San Diego’s local wildlife, such as the adjacent Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, according to the project description.
These features include meadows and specialty gardens; nature playgrounds; picnic areas; walking paths; Kumeyaay signage; public art restrooms; more than 200 parking spaces; and more.
A portion of the Sweetwater Bicycle Path and Promenade will be temporarily closed to make way for construction of the resort and center, port officials announced last month. The path, which includes a pedestrian bridge, benches and other landscaping perks, is expected to reopen in early February.
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