SDSU Mission Valley River Park Impact Report FY23-24
SDSU Mission Valley River Park
Fiscal Year 2023-2024
Dear Donor,
This past fiscal year SDSU Mission Valley celebrated the grand opening of the now award-winning river park, in no small part due to the support from its donors.
Donor funding will help ensure the park and open space at SDSU Mission Valley can be a valuable public resource for the San Diego region, as well as encourage outdoor leisure and recreation through its multi-use fields, bike paths, and walking trails.
As a staunch supporter of the river park, I invite you to read further about others who have made an impact on this special addition to our community. From named spaces to student contributions and future research, the park offers all San Diegans over 34-acres to explore.
Thanks to you, this new park will be a beautiful San Diego asset for generations to come.
Gina Jacobs Associate Vice President for SDSU Mission Valley Development
Changing Lives through Community Spaces
The Mike and Christine Pack Refection Pergola
The central focal point of the trolley plaza is the Mike and Christine Pack Refection Pergola, which draws inspiration from the river and 'ewaa (dome-shaped shelters) used by the early Kumeyaay. These shelters were built from branches and covered with leaves from willow, tule or other plants.
Below it, the accent paving was created with a portion of the 200,000 tons of concrete salvaged from the demolition of the former stadium, of which 90% was diverted from the landfll and recycled or reused on site.
The Ben and Nikki Clay San Diego River Trail
Winding through and encircling the river park is a two-mile Hike and Bike Loop, which includes a section of the Ben and Nikki Clay San Diego River Trail, named for longtime SDSU philanthropists who have supported the development, operations and maintenance of the river park.
The Alta and Franklin Grant Family Mission Valley River Park Fund
A generous gift to San Diego State University establishes The Alta and Franklin Grant Family Mission Valley River Park Fund to help develop, operate and maintain the SDSU Mission Valley River Park. Through this gift, we named the Alta and Franklin Grant Family Picnic Hub and the Alta and Franklin Grant Family Playground.
L to R: Mike and Christine Pack, Ben and Nikki Clay, and Alan Grant, on behalf of the Grant Family.
Living the Aztec Experience
Reed Smith, Class of 2025
Class Level: Graduate Student
College: College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts
Major: Film and Television Production
Reed joined the SDSU Mission Valley team in the fall of 2023 as a student assistant while working toward his MFA in Film and Television Production. His expertise and dedication have been invaluable to our projects, especially in building a comprehensive visual repository of SDSU Mission Valley and capturing the vibrant daily life and activities at the river park.
Reed's profciency with a wide array of cameras and lenses has allowed us to capture stunning and diverse footage of the people, architecture, and wildlife at the river park. His skill set extends to advanced equipment such as drones and 360 cameras, ensuring that every angle and perspective is covered.
In addition to his exceptional abilities as a camera operator, Reed excels as a video editor, colorist, and sound editor. His meticulous attention to detail and creative vision have signifcantly enhanced the quality of our visual content on our social media channels. Reed’s ability to seamlessly integrate various videography and photography techniques with his editing prowess has resulted in visually compelling and professionally polished projects.
Celebrating Shared Success
Recent Highlights
On March 6, 2024, we celebrated the opening of the river park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by SDSU President Adela de la Torre. Since then, the park has become a vibrant gathering place for the community. Families bring their children to enjoy the playground, while others workout in the ftness area, run or bike along the Ben and Nikki Clay River Trail, or play sports on the recreational felds. Other visitors can be found enjoying the open space and relaxing in the shade of the Mike and Christine Pack Refection Pergola.
In July 2024, the park hosted the California State Summer Games rugby tournament. This fall, hundreds of visitors regularly share the park with Aztec football fans, as it has become a designated location for tailgating and other pre-game celebrations. In October 2024, thousands are expected to gather at the river park and Snapdragon Stadium for the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, one of the region’s most inspiring events.
Looking ahead, a mixed-use residential building featuring 621 apartments and 30,000 square feet of leasable retail space, including a grocery store, will be developed by AvalonBay, and an afordable housing project for low-income families will be developed by Chelsea Investment. Once complete, even more community members will be able to enjoy the river park and east park, where they can gather at the playground and picnic nodes funded by the Alta and Franklin Grant family.
The SDSU Mission Valley River Park has recently been recognized with two awards. Project of the Year award in the Parks category at the 2024 American Public Works Association Awards (San Diego/Imperial County Chapter) Merit Award in the Parks, Trails, & Recreation category at the San Diego Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects Design Awards 2024
Helping to Build a Brighter Future
Natalie Mladenov, Ph.D.
Title: Professor, P.E., William E. Leonhard, Jr. Chair, Director of the Water Innovation and Reuse Lab College: College of Engineering Achievement: In collaboration with professor and chair Dongye Zhao, associate professor Alicia Kinoshita, associate professor Matthew Verbyla, and assistant professor Christy Dykstra, and other members of SDSU’s Blue Gold Area of Excellence Initiative, Dr. Mladenov will be the principal investigator for the One Water Living Learning Laboratory.
Amid recent winter storms, ongoing contamination of local waterways, and droughts worsened by climate change, water issues have been top of mind for San Diegans. SDSU researchers have long been at the forefront of tackling these issues, and now they’ve received a $2 million grant from the San Diego River Conservancy to build a laboratory in SDSU Mission Valley’s River Park to train the region’s future water professionals and share their research with the community.
The One Water Living Learning Laboratory will allow SDSU students to deepen their understanding of watershed science and hydrological systems while gaining hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies for studying water quality, stormwater treatment and wastewater reuse.
The planned 900 square foot facility, along with outdoor space, will provide a staging area for SDSU research teams conducting feldwork and water sampling on the San Diego River as well as other nearby urban waterways.
