Ben Nicholls (Courtesy photo)
Development, Hillcrest
Meet Ben Nicholls: Executive Director and Fundraising Machine for the Hillcrest Business Association
By Frank Sabatini Jr.
Something of a “Big Bang” is about to occur in Hillcrest in regards to building and development.
It was the exciting and long overdue demolition of Pernicano’s last month that prompted us to ask Ben Nicholls what will replace the rotted structure, which operated as a spacious Italian restaurant until shuttering in the mid ‘80s. It had remained a persistent eyesore ever since.
Nicholls serves as executive director for the 100-year-old Hillcrest Business Association (HBA). He’s been at the helm of the organization since 2009 and helps oversee a roster of annual fundraising activities that are vital to the wealth and health of ever-evolving Hillcrest.
In our chat with the New Zealand native, we learned that much more is about to change throughout San Diego’s most colorful and diversified neighborhood.
Downtown Condo Guys: What is the mission of the HBA?
Nicholls: To improve the neighborhood of Hillcrest, physically and economically.
Downtown Condo Guys: The organization has a long history. In a nutshell, how did it start?
Nicholls: Right after the first World War, a group of women shopkeepers formed the Hillcrest Women’s Shopkeepers Association. It was their goal to raise money for the original, wooden Hillcrest sign. They then went on to do all sorts of things for the neighborhood, and their group eventually became the Hillcrest Business Association many years ago.
There’s a legacy here, considering previous executive directors have included State Senator Chris Kehoe, and Joyce Beers, who was a huge force in Hillcrest.
Downtown Condo Guys: How did you come into play?
Nicholls: I had been running business improvement districts in different places, including Pacific Beach. At the time in Pacific Beach, there really wasn’t a lot of community debate except for matters about alcohol at the beach and the number of clubs in that area. So when the HBA job came up, there were so many more exciting things to talk about—a lot of new stuff about development and transportation that was coming down the road (pun intended). There were more things for me to sink my teeth into.
I was also involved in political campaigns in New Zealand and Seattle—and in Seattle, I ran the business improvement district for the Pioneer Square Community Association. Then after moving to San Diego in 2004, I worked for a guy who was running for mayor, Peter Q. Davis. That job was good because it forced me to go around and get to know the city.
Downtown Condo Guys: How many staff and board members run HBA?
Nicholls: There are 15 board members. Every year we have an election for board seats. Right now, we have two full-time staff, and we’re in the process of hiring a third. We also have about 50 volunteers every month.
Downtown Condo Guys: What have been some of HBA’s biggest strides and victories over the past decade?
Nicholls: There have been a lot. But the two big ones that I think are important include the installation of the Hillcrest Pride Flag in 2012. When it was installed, we also moved the Hillcrest Farmers Market around the flag. It’s now become a central gathering place in Hillcrest, which the neighborhood didn’t have before. When we originally proposed the flag project, people opposed us. Even the city’s planning commission voted against it. We had to go to the city council to overrule it. Now the city and SANDAG have plans to turn all of Normal Street into a promenade, with construction due to start next year.
The other big project that people forget about is when SANDAG originally proposed their bike lanes, they wanted to remove roughly 100 parking spaces. We fought to preserve that parking, and we managed to do so. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but we went from possibly losing 91 spaces to adding four. And when the Normal Street promenade gets built, we’ll be adding 25 more spaces.
Downtown Condo Guys: What is HBA’s operating budget?
Nicholls: It’s about $800,000 annually, which includes $500,000 a year from the Hillcrest Farmers Market and annual fundraising events like CityFest, the Pride Block Party, and Taste of Hillcrest.
Downtown Condo Guys: Tell us about HBA’s “beautification committee.”
Nicholls: It was a standing committee when I arrived at HBA. Over the years, it has waxed and waned. Right now, there are roughly 10 people who serve on it. Recent projects include the installation of rubber bark inside street tree wells, which replaced river rocks and created a surface that wheelchairs can roll over. That project cost about $30,000. We also installed 60 new trees throughout the neighborhood last year. And this month [March], a new 200-foot-wide mural will be unveiled on a wall of the AT&T building at Sixth and University.
Downtown Condo Guys: What will replace the infamous and now-demolished Pernicano’s?
Nicholls: It will be an eight-story residential building with a restaurant space on the Fifth Avenue side. By any measure, it will be a phenomenal improvement to what was there. Carmel Partners bought the land and will develop it. They also bought several other properties in Hillcrest, which they’ll be developing in the coming years.
Downtown Condo Guys: Such as?
Nicholls: There are a ton, from other developers as well. Although Pernicano’s is getting the ball rolling, there will soon be construction on Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Avenue, and on Robinson, Normal, Cleveland, and Harvey Milk Street. They’ll be mostly residential projects with some retail on the ground floors. A renaissance is about to happen.
Downtown Condo Guys: What are your favorite elements about Hillcrest? And do you reside in the neighborhood?
Nicholls: What I like most about Hillcrest is how welcoming it is, and how you can just randomly walk into a business, and it will be new and interesting. Hillcrest is a real neighborhood. It doesn’t feel like some marketing firm has branded it. It’s a little rough around the edges–not always perfect, but that’s what makes a neighborhood.
I live in Oceanside, and a lot of times I work on the train. Sometimes I take my bicycle on the train and bike up the Fifth Avenue bike lane to the office from the Santa Fe train station. I made a decision long ago to never live in the neighborhood where I work.
