Coming Soon: South Bay Power Plant Implosion

When the South Bay Power Plant began operating in 1960, Dwight Eisenhower was president, no one had heard of The Beatles and the City of Imperial Beach was less than five years old.

To make way for Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan development, the power plant that was decommissioned in 2011 will come down Feb. 2 at 7 a.m., the Port of San Diego said in a statement Tuesday.

The implosion will be rescheduled if weather or wind conditions are not considered suitable, the Port said.

A number of small explosive charges will be placed within the structure
to bring it down. The actual implosion should take less than two minutes and sound like rolling thunder with reverberations, said Port spokeswoman Tanya Castaneda.

A public park and RV park will take the place of the 165-foot structure. Encompassing more than 500 acres, the development project will include a hotel, commercial park, residential homes and other features in what some have called the largest coastal development in California.

Further details about where the public can go to see the 21,000-ton structure come down will be made available in coming weeks.

The California Coastal Commission approved demolition last June. The Commission approved elements of the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan last August.

Have you been looking forward to the South Bay Power Plant being removed from the San Diego Bay waterfront or were you a fan of the building? Share in comments.

City News Service contributed to this report.