Dear Editor,
Your recent article titled “UTC Mall Shopping for a
Green Makeover” outlined many of the improvements that are planned for UTC.
This letter is intended to provide even more details on this exciting project.
Westfield initially announced its plans to significantly
enhance the center earlier this year. Since then, Westfield has listened
carefully to feedback from our shoppers and the community. This input has been
valuable in helping refine the project. This week, Westfield unveiled
a dynamic architectural model (located in the UTC Experience at UTC) that
provides a small-scale, physical representation of the new UTC.
The model, along with images displayed at the UTC Experience, demonstrates
how Westfield intends to transform the 30-year-old center into a world-class
shopping, dining and entertainment destination. Details of the project include
150 new shops and boutiques, three new anchor stores, five new restaurants, a
movie theater and a regional transit center.
Westfield has held numerous meetings with community groups
and individuals to obtain feedback on its vision for the project, and articles
like the one that appeared in the Guardian help us turn our vision into a
concrete plan for the new UTC. In addition to being a popular shopping and
social destination for UCSD students, Westfield UTC is one of the largest
employers of students in the region, so we highly value their thoughts and opinions.
One of the more interesting elements of the project is that,
upon completion, Westfield UTC will be one of the country’s most
environmentally friendly shopping centers. This will be accomplished by
bringing energy-efficient technologies, water conservation measures and
sustainable materials into the site. This involves everything from the use
of “cool roof” technology to reduce the urban heat island effect to indigenous
and drought-resistant landscaping to installing a large-scale solar power project
producing clean, renewable energy on-site. Westfield also plans to recycle over
50 percent of all construction waste and use locally sourced building materials
to reduce and shorten truck trips.
Obviously, traffic and transportation issues are critically
important in the community. That’s why Westfield is planning to spend in
excess of $40 million to help ease congestion and improve flow. The
result is that the project will have no significant impacts on any of the 59
intersections that were studied in conjunction with the proposed project.
Dedicated turn lanes, reconfigured intersections, widened freeway onramps, new
traffic lanes and signal lights are all a part of the traffic improvement
plan. This is in addition to the proposed regional transit center that
will accommodate the future Super Loop and either a trolley or enhanced
bus-rapid transit system in University City.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide some additional
details on the new UTC. Westfield welcomes community input. We hope you will
have an opportunity to visit us in person at the UTC Experience or our project
Web site at www.thenewutc.com to learn more.
— Jonathan Bradhurst
Senior Vice President, Westfield UTC
