I.B. breaks ground on Bikeway Village

An amenity to San Diego’s Bayshore Bikeway that’s been in the works for the past decade, is expected to be complete this fall.

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on Jan. 25 at 13th Street and Palm Avenue for the Bikeway Village project.

The Bayshore Bikeway is a regional bicycle path that will eventually extend 24 miles around San Diego Bay, providing a connection to tourist destinations.

The Bikeway Village project was envisioned by Coronado resident and entrepreneur Rex Butler many years ago. It will be built along an Imperial Beach portion of the bikeway and offer view of the San Diego Bay.

It is modeled to be a pitstop for riders and a place for visitors and residents to hang out.

Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina called the project “innovative” and “cool” because it not only occupies unused space but breathes life back into an area that has long been neglected.

“We want to make this the best looking bayfront on the planet, and this Bikeway Village is going to be a pioneering project of its kind in Southern California, if not the country,” he said. “Nothing else exists like this.”

The area surrounding 13th Street and Palm Avenue in San Diego on its way into Imperial Beach, has been blighted for a long time.

As a kid, Dedina said he would ride his bike along the train tracks, the same place known as the part of town where it wasn’t safe to hang out.

“Bringing investment to areas like these make them safer for kids and families and it also makes it an area where businesses can thrive,” he said.

County Supervisor Greg Cox said the project brings together a culmination of efforts over many years to get people to look at South County as a place to visit.

“I think Imperial Beach is the most undervalued community we have in the San Diego region,” Cox said. “This will become ground zero in my opinion for recreational bicycling in the San Diego region.”

Cox said the bikeway would be complete in the next five years.

“This will be I think one of the finest examples of economic development coming about as a result of public investment in regional amenities,” he said.

Bikeway Village is a collaboration between Studio E Architects and landLAB. The project is combining two existing 15,000 square-foot warehouses into one building.

Features include a one-stop bicycle and repair shop, cafes and a potential hostel.

There will also be a large outdoor deck with formal and informal seating, a fire pit, bicycle parking, water bottle refill station, trail-side rest stop and public restrooms.

Tim Townsley, owner of TNT Surfboard Manufacturing in San Diego, operated a store out of one of the old buildings for nearly 20 years. When it closed in 2011 he had made 20,000 surf boards.

“I knew my days were numbered when Rex got the place so I made the decision to move,” he said. “They were going commercial and I was light manufacturing, it just didn’t mingle.”

Townsley said he is enthusiastic about the project, which he said would also become a destination for cyclists from Mexico.

“I think it will be a good asset,” he said. “When I first got into that building it was a dump site. It was a troubled area and blighted. But it was cheap rent.”

Townsley, who has been into surfing the majority of his life has recently gotten into cycling.

“I’m going to utilize it,” he said. “I’ll stop by and have coffee and take a break.”

Andy Hanshaw, executive director of San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, said he’s been cycling for 15 years and that San Diego is a great place to get around by bike.

A Point Loma resident, Hanshaw said he cycles all over the region. “It’s my main mode of transportation,” he said. “I’m a fan of the Bayshore Bikeway and have been riding it for many years.”

He said the Bikeway Village project is unique and has great features. “For people, riding, walking and using the bikeway, it’s an economic draw for Imperial Beach and an attraction for that area,” Hanshaw said.

A ribbon cutting is expected in the fall for the Bikeway Village.