Creating a cultural hub: UC San Diego opens Park & Market downtown

On Saturday, doors opened to the general public, with an estimated crowd of about 300 sauntering through.

Park & Market cost about $65 million — $40 million to construct and roughly $25 million for interior work — with no money from state funding.

“We gravitate toward films that won’t get screened in other multiplexes,” said Moises Esparza, exhibitions manager for Digital Gym Cinema, the theater’s operator.

Outdoors, an amphitheater provides a venue for music, dance and special events.

So the fact that we have an office in the building gives us a chance to run into each other in the elevators, at the watercoolers …

“Our mission is economic development and cultural vitality, and UC San Diego coming to downtown really fulfills that mission,” said Betsy Brennan, CEO of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

…Read the full story