Liberty Station (Naval Training Center)

Point Loma, San Diego, CA

As a result of Public Law 101-510, also known as the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990, the Naval Training Center (NTC) closed in 1999. The City of San Diego in cooperation with the Navy, held three workshops on the potential uses of NTC. As a result, the land was to be used for Navy housing, public housing, research and development, downtown and suburban business and retail activity centers, recreation and resort development projects. Approximately 300 of the 800 buildings were retained. A historic core of 43 significant buildings had been nominated to the local and national registers. The process was required by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 Section 106 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for public property used for recreational purposes.

Heritage Architecture & Planning had been hired by Rick Engineering as the historic/preservation architect for the base closure. We performed architectural condition assessment studies and recommendation for improvements to the historic buildings. A utility baseline study for the electrical, plumbing and steam co-generation was also prepared to assess the efficiency and comparative analysis to other conventional utility systems. Heritage also provided an in-depth acoustical study for the historic core due to the high jet noise (85 CNEC) from the San Diego International Airport. In addition, the firm performed a cost analysis for the rehabilitation of the 43 historic buildings and assessed the potential uses and types of activities appropriate for each of the buildings.

Under McMillin Land Development, master developers for the City of San Diego, Heritage served as the ongoing preservation architect for the NTC Historic District. We prepared design guidelines, conducted building conditions assessments, historic paint analysis and construction documents for buildings within the historic district.