Client of the Month: AVRP Skyport
Midway Sports and Entertainment District
This month we are recognizing AVRP Skyport as our Client of the Month. AVRP Skyport is an internationally acclaimed design and architecture firm located in San Diego’s East Village. In 1976, AVRP Skyport founder Doug Austin started the firm out of his home. Now more than 40 years later, the company has earned international and national recognition with over 150 design awards. The firm has broad experience in projects including urban infill, mixed-use, housing, education, corporate office, multi-generational space and health care.
AVRP Skyport’s design success is based on its conviction that successful environments are created with the blending of practical needs and context.
With each project, AVRP Skyport develops an original concept that addresses the client’s needs and draws on the inspirations of both the physical and cultural environment of the community. This idea along with user testing, drives the creative process towards designing a space that appropriately fits the needs of the user within the design concept. AVRP Skyport is less concerned with stylistic or theoretical preconceptions than with appropriateness of form and quality of space.
Their design approach has earned AVRP Skyport recognition for its decades of design excellence, creativity and planning many of the most prominent, visionary and vibrant projects. A few of AVRP Skyport’s local projects are Seaport San Diego, The Hub, Torreyana, Hoover High CTE School Culinary Arts, Topaz, and other notable projects.
Most recently, McCullough is proud to have collaborated with AVRP Skyport on The Wedge project in Victoria, British Columbia. It won a 2020 Gold Nugget Grand Award given by the Pacific Coast Builders Conference for the project’s innovation in design, planning and development.
“Imagine” the Midway Sports and Entertainment District
We are privileged to have had a long working relationship with AVRP Skyport. A current project is the Midway Sports and Entertainment District (MSED). MSED started as a conceptual vision for San Diego called "Imagine." Initially conceived by principals at AVRP Skyport and our principal, David McCullough, the idea was based on exploring the possibilities for a site without the limitations that clients often have in a project. David McCullough explains, “If the Sports Arena location was to be redeveloped, we would want the best outcome for the community. Our goal was to be forward thinking, so we held a charrette with San Diego locals to explore options. At that time, a prominent local developer and community leader David Malmuth proposed the concept of creating an outdoor sports, health and wellness district for San Diego. This would make the project unique to our region. As the team grew, the momentum created was turning this small idea, "Imagine" into what it is today.”
A Multitude of Uses
MSED features and benefits include:
A 12-acre public park
A diverse selection of housing
New employment opportunities
Establishes a forward-looking transit/mobility plan
Easy walking and biking distance from the Old Town Transit Center
Access to San Diego’s future Grand Central Station
A renovated and expanded sports and music venue arena seating 3,500
A professional-level soccer stadium to anchor the entertainment scene
An iconic plaza with a marketplace featuring a collection of shops and restaurants.
Moreover, from the central plaza, a pavilion-lined boardwalk will extend across the site along the park’s edge, featuring public gathering, sports and recreational activities.
MSED is designed to be San Diego's version of New York's famous Highline. This multi-level boardwalk will serve as the front door to a series of mixed-use villages providing homes for 1,500 residents along with offices, hotel, retail and restaurant uses.
We are thrilled to be a part of this dynamic project, as it captures McCullough’s vision for a healthier and more progressive San Diego.
David welcomes the opportunity to help build a better San Diego. “I personally am very honored to have had the opportunity to collaborate over the past six months with some of the most talented and forward-thinking people I have met in my career, including the AVRP Skyport team. I can't wait to see this district come to life!"
For more information on AVRP Skyport visit their website. To learn more about the Midway Sports and Entertainment District visit the social media pages below.
Nicole Hensch
Marketing and Administrative Assistant