3 years and $18M later: Why this new city building stood vacant for so long | Jeff McDonald

Nearly three years after Mayor Kevin Faulconer agreed to a 20-year rent-to-own arrangement to take over an office tower at 101 Ash Street, the first city workers have begun moving into the remodeled office tower in downtown San Diego. The full migration of some 1,130 city workers will be completed in mid-January, and more than 100 planning department and information technology employees began moving in on Monday and are scheduled to relocate by the end of this week. The original goal was for city workers to move into the building two years ago. Now officials say the move is keeping up with a revised plan from August 2018. “We’re on time and within budget as we begin moving city employees into the building this week,” said Johnnie Perkins, one of the city’s deputy chief operating officers, in an email Monday. “This is really a long-term investment for the city that will save tens of millions of taxpayer dollars over time, create more effective and efficient work spaces for city employees and significantly improve customer service with a new home for Development Services.”