Pepper Park’s long-awaited transformation in National City is set to kick off this summer. Port commissioners awarded on Tuesday a $7.3 million construction contract to San Diego-based De La Fuente Construction, the lowest bidder in a pool of three. A fourth applicant had withdrawn their bid. The contractor will be responsible for the first phase of upgrades to the 5.2-acre parkland’s current footprint, which includes a pirate-themed playground, a perched beach, a hillside play area, a new entry plaza and overlook, fresh landscaping and improved lighting. They will also build a splash pad, considered the first in any park along
Pepper Park’s long-awaited transformation in National City is set to kick off this summer.
Port commissioners on Tuesday awarded a $7.3 million construction contract to San Diego-based De La Fuente Construction, the lowest bidder in a pool of three. A fourth applicant had withdrawn their bid.
The contractor will be responsible for the first phase of upgrades to the 5.2-acre park’s current footprint, which includes a pirate-themed playground, a beach, a hillside play area, a new entry plaza and overlook, fresh landscaping and improved lighting. They will also build a splash pad, considered the first in any park along the San Diego Bay.
“This first phase will dramatically change and improve how the public uses and enjoys the park, and it’s just the beginning,” Port Chairperson Frank Urtasun said in a statement. “The future phase will bring a bigger park for the National City Bayfront with even more for the community and visitors to experience and enjoy.”
The next stage consists of expanding the greenspace by 2.5 acres – about 1.5 acres northwest and a half-acre to the northeast. Its execution will depend on whether the Port can secure funding and certification of a plan to revamp the bayfront in National City by the California Coastal Commission.
Built in 1970, Pepper Park is north of the Sweetwater Channel and east of the Marine Terminal. It has a fishing pier and launch ramp and over the years it has expanded with a playground, landscaping, parking lot and an aquatic center.
As the only recreational link to San Diego Bay, residents have long advocated for a larger and cleaner waterfront park, given its proximity to industrial operations that generate revenue for the Port.
“Pepper Park provides the community refuge from surrounding industry that has profound impacts on their physical and social wellbeing,” Bertha Rodriguez, a policy advocate for the Environmental Health Coalition, told Port commissioners on Tuesday.
In recent years, hundreds of residents partook in community workshops and surveys, expressing to the agency the features they wanted to see. Their feedback ultimately led to the design of the park’s transformation.
The construction project is the first one that will be completed under the National City Balanced Land Use Plan. Commissioners approved the plan, which had been in the making for about two decades, in late 2022. It attempts to balance the needs of residents with businesses in the bayfront. Under the plan, the area is envisioned to look a lot different with projects that include expanding Pepper Park, building an RV park and up to four hotels within the Port’s jurisdiction, developing two vacant city-owned blocks north of Maria Bay Drive for commercial use and reworking roads to allow business operations without public interference. Coastal Commissioners may consider the plan in the coming months.
Construction of the park’s first phase is slated to begin in August and be completed by the end of next year, according to the Port.