SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The new Intercontinental Hotel along the North Embarcadero will hit a major construction milestone Wednesday. Crews will hoist the final bucket of concrete to the roof for a "Topping Out" ceremony to signal the completion of the structure's exterior.
"This is a long time coming," says Development Manager Alex Guyott.
The Intercontinental Hotel will be a 19-story hotel at the corner of Broadway and North Harbor Drive, right across the street from the Broadway Pier.
It's on the area that once was the site of Lane Field. From 1936-1957 it was the home of the minor league San Diego Padres in the Pacific Coast League. After that, it became a parking lot for the cruise ship terminal.
In 2015, as part of the hotel redevelopment, Lane Field Park opened. It features call backs to the sites baseball past, including a home plate, pitcher's mound and bases.
The park, and the new hotel, are part of the "BRIC" project, bringing new hotels, restaurants and retail to the area.
A twin hotel right next door, with a Springhill Suites and Mariott Residence Inn, opened in 2016
When the new hotel opens, BRIC will have about 800 rooms, 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 50,000 feet of event and meeting space and 686 parking spots underground.
"I remember seeing these hotels sketched on a napkin and it's pretty cool to see them come to fruition," says Guyott.
The hotel complex is part of a larger plan to redevelop the North Embarcadero.
Called the "North Embarcadero Visionary Plan," it started in 1998. In the past few years, new amenities for the port opened up. So did a new Carnitas' Snack Shack taco shop. There's also a $13 million plan to open four new restaurants on the site of Anthony's Fish Grotto.
RELATED:Anthony's Fish Grotto to Close
The "Visionary Plan" is designed to bring more locals to the area.
"You're going to see critical mass down here," says Guyott. "People from the Gaslamp, people from Little Italy, they can come here now to shop and eat."
"It's will bring locals here, it will bring tourists here and it's really creating a vibrant destination right on the waterfront."
The Intercontinental won't open until fall of 2018.
Civic San Diego breaks down all of the new construction going on in the downtown area:
| Projects | Residential Units | Retail Sq. Ft. | Office Sq. Ft. | Hotel Rooms | |
| Under construction | 24 | 4,165 | 190,000 | 44,000 | 863 |
| Approved | 31 | 5,624 | 351,000 | 1.46M | 2,012 |
| Under review | 10 | 2,102 | 67,000 | 70,000 | 282 |
