Clark Realty Capital development executive Bryan Lamb has been working with the Navy since 2001 on the development and preservation of some 13,000 units of military housing in Southern California. From Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to the Naval Weapons Testing Center in the Mojave Desert, he’s seen the quality and style of military housing evolve from basic barracks to lifestyle-centric living, a trend not lost on similar military housing efforts on the East Coast.
So, when Arlington, Va.-based Clark Realty won the bid for Pacific Beacon, three high-rise towers accommodating some 2,000 sailors in 941 dual-master suite residences in downtown San Diego, Lamb knew the bar was about to be reset. “During construction, we had two separate presidential administrations emphasizing how these men and women deserved our best,” Lamb says. “We wanted to deliver. The average military projects being built now are nice stick-built, garden-style multifamily projects. We wanted to shatter that status quo.”
FAST FACTS
Location: San Diego
Builder: Clark Builders Group
Developer: Clark Realty Capital
Architect: Torti Gallas and Partners
Opened: December 2008
No. of Units: 941
Unit Mix: Nine styles of dual-master suite apartments
Prices: $950 to $1,375 per month
The resulting campus-style Pacific Beacon certainly delivers. In fact, the project is the first high-rise to be constructed under the Navy’s new anti-terrorism force protection measures and factors in elements of progressive collapse and interior setbacks from access roads. On what just might be the safest property on the base, sailors get to relax and socialize at basketball, sand volleyball, and tennis courts, three fitness centers, game rooms, roof-top sky lounges, an outdoor performance arena, and Wi-Fi cafés.
During pre-construction roundtable focus groups with Clark, the sailors also expressed a keen desire for educational opportunities—and they got what they asked for. Pacific Beacon features fully-equipped classroom facilities and computer labs as well as partnerships with Navy College, National University, University of Phoenix, and San Diego community colleges to offer continuing education courses on-site. If sailors ever get back to their rooms in one of the three towers (each named for a Navy Seal lost in the line of duty), they’ll enjoy one of nine dual-master suite unit configurations with private bathrooms and walk-in closets.