SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The famed Jessop's Clock that has rested in Horton Plaza since the center opened has been removed.
Tuesday, the clock was moved into temporary storage, though the location is not being revealed, according to Jim Jessop, former owner of Jessop's Jewelry, a plaza mainstay for 125 years before closing in 2017.
Upon announcing the closing of Jessop's Jewelry, the plaza asked Jessop to move the clock.
RELATED: Grocery chain suing Horton Plaza over millions in sales losses
It's likely the clock, constructed in 1907, will remain in temporary storage for a couple of years until its new location's lease is signed, Jessop says.
The fact that its current location is being kept secret may be due to security concerns. Jessop said the clock had been vandalized in February and it had to be moved out as soon as possible because of the lack of security at the plaza to keep it safe.
Jessop’s Clock, a historical San Diego icon for more than 100 years, is being removed from Horton Plaza.
— Amanda Brandeis (@10NewsBrandeis) April 2, 2019
No word yet on where it’s going.@10News pic.twitter.com/HpQkGn8pZ3
Horton Plaza was sold to a real-estate firm last year, in hopes of revitalizing the aging property back to its former glory.
Stockdale Capital Partners plans to turn the area into The Campus at Horton, a hub for mixed-use offices catering to the tech industry, retail, and restaurants.
RELATED: Jessop's Jewelry closing after 125 years in San Diego
"We're ripe in downtown for an office explosion," Gary London, senior principal of London Moeder Advisors, a commercial real estate analytics firm, told 10News. "There's been a big movement in corporate America to marry the places where people work with the places where people live."
The project is expected to create about 3,000 to 4,000 jobs and generate more than $1.8 billion in annual economic activity. Construction is slated to begin sometime this year and be completed in 2020.
