Port of San Diego to Dedicate New Public Park

Port of San Diego to Dedicate New Public Park

Tuesday, 18 September 2012 

The Port of San Diego will dedicate its 18th waterfront park, Ruocco Park, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 20, 2012.

Located just north of Seaport Village, the park was built at the site of the former Harbor Seafood Mart at the southwest corner of Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway in San Diego. Its opening will bring the total dedicated park space on Port property to 153 acres.

City of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, San Diego Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer, San Diego Councilmember Todd Gloria and San Diego County Supervisor Greg Coxwill join Port Commissioners in dedicating the park. Executives from the San Diego Foundation, who awarded the Port a $3.5 million grant to help pay for the park, will also participate.

Built on time and within budget, the 3.3-acre park features quiet contemplative areas, a variety of trees, benches, picnic tables and a plaza for events or gatherings. It also includes the public artwork, "The Riparium," by local artist Roman de Salvo.

De Salvo's inventive artwork serves as a gateway at the corner of Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway. It includes an abstract network of massive eucalyptus tree branches that span across the park's entrance. The branches are suspended by cables that are anchored to towering masts, reminiscent of sailboats on the bay.

The park is named after Lloyd and Ilse Ruocco. Mr. Ruocco was a prominent San Diego architect and credited with starting the modern architectural movement here. He designed dozens of private homes around the region and worked on several prominent public buildings, including the County Administration Building, San Diego Civic Theater, the Design Center in Hillcrest, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, among others. Mrs. Ruocco was a noted interior decorator and professor of art at San Diego State University.

Port of San Diego Breaks Ground on New Waterfront Park from Port of San Diego on Vimeo.

The couple established a trust more than 25 years ago to create a public park in San Diego that would feature outstanding urban design. The trust is administered by the San Diego Foundation, which awarded the Port the $3.5 million grant from the Ruocco Fund in November 2008.

The Port of San Diego contributed $3.8 million for the park from its Capital Improvement Program. Port funds accommodated construction of a basic park, and partial demolition of the former Harbor Seafood Mart. The Ruocco donation was used to enhance the park's design and provide upgrades such as the garden areas, upgraded hardscape, benches, public art and lighting.

About $1 million from the Ruocco donation will be used to maintain the park's upgrades and the Port will pay for maintenance of the basic park elements.

Ruocco Park is designed by Dennis Otsuji of ONA and Associates, Inc., a San Diego firm. Otsuji has worked on local landscape architecture projects at the Stephen Birch Aquarium and Liberty Station. His design includes many of the elements that the Ruoccos requested when they established the park fund. It was built by Ledcor Construction, Inc.

Along with its parks, the port has created miles of pathways that weave throughout the parks along the water's edge. The Port has also developed public boat launch ramps, boat docks, fishing piers and many other recreational amenities.

About the Port:

The Port of San Diego is the fourth largest of the 11 ports in California. It was created by the state legislature in 1962. Since then, it has invested millions of dollars in public improvements in its five member cities Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National Cityand San Diego.

The port oversees two maritime cargo terminals, two cruise ship terminals, 17 public parks, the Harbor Police Department and the leases of more than 600 tenant and sub tenant businesses around San Diego Bay.

The Port of San Diego is an economic engine, an environmental steward of San Diego Bay and the surrounding tidelands, and a provider of community services and public safety.