San Diego State University is still interested in expanding to Chula Vista and state-of-the-art production studios may still be built in the city’s southeast region. Just not as originally planned.
Earlier this year, the city and university scrapped a plan to relocate the school’s television, film and new media program because the parties disagreed on where and how to build production studios at the city’s forthcoming Millenia library – a 168,000-square-foot, four-floor complex with library and office space located at 1730 Millenia Ave.
They acknowledged the plan was rushed and poorly executed, marking a setback to what was expected to be the start of a long-awaited migration of four-year universities to South County, a region of about 585,000 people with only one public college.
Chula Vista has a new plan, however. The City Council will consider formalizing the process Tuesday.
The plan includes entering into a non-binding agreement with SDSU to occupy about 7,100 square feet of the library building’s lower level. Most of the space would serve as classrooms for the university’s School of Nursing and other programs, such as its Global Campus. It’s unclear whether the institution could relocate or expand its nursing program. About 1,100 square feet would be set aside for a patio area.
According to a draft letter of intent, SDSU would occupy the lower level for $1 per year and pay only for cleaning services, utilities and some insurance costs.
The proposal comes after the city’s new library was designed to accommodate SDSU production studios, but the university said the design would not be adequate for studios. Chula Vista said it had already invested millions of dollars and that it was too late to redesign the project. They agreed to rely on a new study, spearheaded by Chula Vista-based Southwestern College, that determined the workforce and education needs of the area.
Released this fall, the white paper identified nursing, among others, as a top priority degree program in South County.
The city also has plans to work with Chula Vista Entertainment Complex, LLC, a nascent company whose co-founder and self-proclaimed industry-lifer, Aaron David Roberts, says has plans to kickstart “Hollywood 2.0” in Chula Vista.
According to a proposed letter of intent, the company would lease the top two floors of the library and set up a state-of-the-art entertainment facility with a focus on the virtual production industry. It would house podcast and photography studios, places for actors to do self-taping, as well as a large community space. Another floor would have office space and studios for post-production editing, and audio recording.
Across the street at 1775 Millenia Ave., the city would essentially have Chula Vista Entertainment purchase an undeveloped, 8.6-acre lot and build an 89,600-square-foot virtual production studio campus.
“It’s essentially the next wave of what Hollywood will be,” said Roberts, adding that green screens are becoming a thing of the past. “We’re actually using high-end LED screens and putting the background in real time so it’s a much more immersive experience for actors.”
He envisions having local talent do pre-production work within the Millenia library, then head across the street to film and return to the library for post-production.
“The idea again with that is almost to be an incubator of sorts of the creative community and get all the talented creatives working together,” he added.
Chula Vista is also in talks with two local school districts to bring some of their programming to the library.
If officials approve the letters of intent, formal negotiations are expected to follow.
The City Council meeting begins at 4 p.m.
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