International Gateway

Mother Company, with Jim Nelson serving as the Master Planner and Richard Altuna acting as the Design Architect, created the International Gateway of the Americas in San Diego. The project is a 1.4 million square foot cross border BI-national project that will establish a world-class gateway between Tijuana and San Diego. The master plan will consist of unique, pedestrian friendly, mixed-use opportunities, including a hybridization of retail space, office space, international transit center, hotel, convention and visitor uses, and a newly proposed pedestrian border crossing connecting the project to one of the world's busiest tourist zones ... Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana.

The International Gateway of the Americas is strategically located off Interstate 5 on Camino De La Plaza, within walking distance of the busiest port of entry in the world. The San Ysidro port of entry carries approximately 86,000,000 people per year. Over $220 Million is spent each month in San Diego by people other than U.S. citizens, mostly from Tijuana. There are approximately 4.5 million people combined in the San Diego/Tijuana region. The San Diego/Tijuana cross border population is more than twice as large as any other pair of cross-border counties along the 2,000-mile U.S./Mexico border. San Diego draws over 27 million tourists annually.

The project consists of three phases:

Phase 1A 310,260 square feet- retail/factory outlet/restaurants

Phase 1B 310,260 square feet- major retail, restaurant pads

Phase 2 800,000 square feet- offices, hotel, and convention center

Phase 1A will open in Nov. 2001, Phase 1B in 2002 and Phase 2 in 2003

Mother Company is working with Hodgetts and Fung as design support and KMA as the executive architect. The owner is Sam Marasco of LandGrant Development in Del Mar California.