Mixed Green: Pacific Station project wins environmental accolades

The mixed-use project is seeking LEED silver certification and required the relocation of 37,000 tons of sand

By David Silva

It’s not every day that a large-scale coastal development wins accolades from environmentalists, but Pacific Station, a 1.4-acre mixed-use project in Encinitas, has managed to do just that.

Maple M3 designed the Pacific Station project.

The $40-million effort by Cardiff-based developer John DeWald & Associates helped earn its host city a 2009 Best Restored Beach Award from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association.

For weeks in January, workers digging Pacific Station’s 90,000-sq-ft underground parking facility hauled nearly 37,000 cubic tons of pristine sand from the site and deposited it in the surf just off nearby Ponto Beach. Environmentalists expect the coast’s southerly flow to spread the sand across Encinitas’s beaches, replenishing the shoreline for years to come.

According to Rick Shrum, senior project manager for general contractor Crane Development of San Diego, the sand-replenishment project was just one example of Pacific Station’s focus on environmental sensitivity.

“It’s a LEED project and we hope to receive LEED silver certification for it,” Shrum says. “Much of the retail and residential portions of the project will have photovoltaic panels for solar energy.”

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Construction started on Pacific Station in January and is expected to wrap up in March. It was designed by lead architect Maple M3 Architects of Solana Beach in association with Allard Jansen Architects Inc. of San Diego and Architecture Illustrated of Encinitas.

The project features 45,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space, 47 condominiums covering 60,000 sq ft and 10,000 sq ft of office space. About 25,000 sq ft of the retail area will be occupied by a Whole Foods Market. Shrum says other retailers and a restaurant owner have also signed on, but he could not yet disclose their names.

The condominiums will range in size from studios to 2,200-sq-ft, three-bedroom units. The 90,000-sq-ft subterranean parking facility will have 250 stalls, Shrum says.

Keith Minnie, project architect for Maple M3, says Pacific Station’s design was the result of a series of workshops his firm held with neighboring residents and community groups.

“We presented a whole bunch of design boards showing different architectural styles, and we gathered from attendees what the public would like to see,” Minnie says. “From that, we determined what the likes and dislikes were in the community, and from that the design moved forward.”

The entire process, which also included input from city officials and what Minnie calls “the traffic gods,” resulted in a design he described as “coastal eclectic.”

“We’ve got an old Quonset style for the condos, and arching roofs reminiscent of Solana Beach – lots of wood, rock and storefront glazing,” he says. “Downtown Encinitas is commuter-driven – a typical laid-back, Highway 101 surfer community. We’re trying to maintain that character with scale and mass.”