The development team proposing a massive, tennis-anchored sports complex on the Chula Vista Bayfront has secured an important contract with the Port of San Diego, giving the group a relatively short window of time to sign a mystery, professional athlete to be the face of the project. Tuesday, the seven-member Board of Port Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize a six-month exclusive negotiating agreement, or ENA, with a group that includes commercial real estate firm Divaris Group of Companies, its subsidiary The McGarey Group, local design firm Tucker Sadler Architects Inc. and public-private financing expert Provident Resources Group. The action, which required the board to waive its policy for a competitive solicitation process, means the 124 acres of land at 990 Bay Blvd. is essentially off the market. Agency staff and the developer will first hammer out the negotiation terms and then use the ensuing half-year period to see if the project is realistic. The short-term negotiating contract is atypical in length. It is designed to give the developers time to partner with the unnamed tennis star, who has been portrayed as essential to the project. The project, called Pangaea, calls for a large tennis facility that is complemented by a water polo academy, four hotels, a retail village, three ocean-oriented office buildings and a public trail. Pangaea also features an IMAX theater by Paragon Entertainment and an upscale mini-golf venue co-owned by Tiger Woods called PopStroke. A stadium is envisioned for a future phase of development. “This idea, that it would be an elite tennis center that would be, in my understanding, the first of its kind in the United States (and) would feature master-designed, multi-service courts, and that it would also provide a variety of different racket sports is particularly interesting to me. This idea of having a professional tennis player associated with the center will certainly bring a lot of cache to this project and to the Port of San Diego as a whole,” said Port Commissioner Ann Moore, who represents Chula Vista. “But really, to me, what makes the most sense about this proposal is that the land uses will attract people and activities that, in turn, will generate demand for hotels and restaurants, not only along the Chula Vista Bayfront, but in National City as well.” Tuesday’s meeting marked the board’s first public discussion of the unsolicited proposal, which has been secretly circulating within the Port of San Diego for 18 months. The development team submitted its original proposal in February 2024, one month after signing a nondisclosure agreement with the agency. A second proposal with additional information was submitted in February of this year. The group is seeking to take over what’s known as the Otay District within the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan, a currently undeveloped area south of the recently opened Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center. The site was the former home of the South Bay Power Plant. “From the beginning, we set out to create the most comprehensive, sophisticated, remarkable sports entertainment district in North America, with a world-class tennis center as our anchor,” Denver McGarey, CEO of The McGarey Group, said during the team’s presentation. “We can … look at this as if we’re stranding pearls, (with) no less than 10 contributing components from community-building sports and recreation, fitness, wellness, retail, hospitality and world-class family entertainment.” Tucker Sadler CEO Greg Mueller walked commissioners through the current iteration of Pangaea, which includes 1.4 million square feet of space for sports and wellness uses, 300,000 square feet of space for retail stores, 722,970 square feet for hotel use and 464,250 square feet of office space. In addition, the team plans to set aside 64.9 acres of land as open space, as well as remake the watershed that bisects the site into a water area that people can use, he said. At the north end at the site, south of J Street, Mueller described a “Festival Plaza” area with ground-floor storefronts and hotel rooms atop shops. The retail area’s paseo travels south toward the PopStroke golf venue and a central plaza, over the watershed, that creates a transition to the tennis complex. The tennis facility includes a central venue and 34 surrounding courts of varying size, surfaces and purpose, according to the proposal. The central tennis venue is envisioned as a stadium court that could seat up to 18,000 people, Mueller told the Union-Tribune. Just beyond the tennis venue is what Mueller described to commissioners as “unprogrammed space” for the community with a middle area reserved for what could become a stadium. “It could be a cricket stadium. It could be lacrosse. It could be several different things. We don’t have any idea at the moment,” he said. However, the proposal document submitted earlier this year specifically references a soccer stadium with 50,000 seats, and identifies the community area as soccer fields. A planned water polo complex is situated southwest of the stadium site. Mueller told the Union-Tribune that the facility includes a main competition pool with 15,000 seats for spectators, alongside two practice pool venues, also with thousands of seats. The development team has signed a letter of intent with 6-8 Sports to operate the facility, Mueller said. The company, co-founded by Olympians Tony Azevedo and Maggie Steffens, plans to relocate to the Chula Vista complex, according to the proposal. The blue tech office buildings are located near the project’s southern border, where Naples Street would intersect the site. Port commissioners were enthusiastic about the project. They did not express reservations about forgoing a board policy that requires development proposals to go through a competitive process, citing the project’s uniqueness, the ability to save time and the development’s perceived community benefits. Commissioners also offered high praise of the team’s past experience. The board members were uncritical of the mega project and did not discuss project specifics, noting instead that their vote was specific to the negotiation contract. “It’s not every day that opportunities come before us like this. … We have developers willing to do the heavy lifting for us, at their expense, utilizing their experience to replan the property into a world-class destination spot. Why wouldn’t we take a look at it?,” Moore said. “Because of the size of the Otay District and the current state of our master plan, it would be extremely challenging to attract development without first revising that plan.” The agency should not let process stand in the way of the progress, she said. A majority of people who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period were similarly effusive, although nearly all of them were either affiliated with the city of Chula Vista or speaking on behalf of local labor unions. Union representatives spoke in support of the project because the developer has agreed to enter into various union contracts, including a project labor agreement. Three commenters cautioned the agency against overdeveloping the Chula Vista Bayfront at the expense of the environment. “If poorly designed, implemented, managed or operated, the Pangaea project would have serious negative impacts on the wildlife, wetlands and water quality of the bay,” said Jim Pugh on behalf of the San Diego Bird Alliance. “Inappropriate lighting can make any resident wildlife unnaturally vulnerable to nocturnal predators, and must be fully addressed in the design and management of the site. Please do not accept this ignorant proposal for exclusive negotiations.” With the board vote, agency staff will draft an exclusive negotiating agreement that incorporates some of the commitments made Tuesday by the developer. The commitments include partnering with the star tennis player, developing a public outreach plan and crafting a community benefits package. Mueller told the Union-Tribune that it could take six months for the ENA to be finalized, meaning the development team would have around a year in total to firm up its plan and land a tennis center partner. The group is in talks with several “elite stars,” but has held off on more serious conversations pending the board action, he said.