City installing temporary Mission Beach Lifeguard Station, as current building ‘unsafe’

MISSION BEACH – The process to replace the 44-year-old Mission Bay Lifeguard Station is finally underway.

At least partially.

On March 14, the city began fencing off the existing lifeguard tower from the public and started installing a temporary lifeguard tower and trailer just north of the current dilapidated station.

“These temporary facilities will allow lifeguards to operate safely and efficiently while plans are developed to upgrade the existing station,” the city of San Diego said in a released statement at the time work began.

The existing lifeguard station, located on Ocean Front Walk adjacent to Belmont Park, serves Mission Bay and Mission Beach, and is by far San Diego’s busiest tower, according to city officials. Due in part to its high usage over the years, the tower and its support facility have significantly deteriorated.

In some instances, major fissures can be seen on the exterior of the multi-story structure, measuring several feet long and several inches wide. There’s also rusted-out metal framing running along the multiple-story structure’s roofline and corroded piping plainly visible.

The large holes and gaps in the structure’s walls have been caused by water damage from moisture that has seeped into the concrete walls, according to the city’s Engineering and Capital Projects department.

The city’s move to install the provisional tower comes after the station was declared unsafe and a threat to the general public in a city of San Diego-commissioned report nearly two years ago.

The May 2024 structural evaluation by an architectural firm found that the lifeguard tower, which was built in 1982, needs “immediate hazard mitigation” to alleviate the threat that it presents to the “health, safety, and welfare of the general public.”

Additionally, a November 2024 inspection by the city’s Development Services department determined that the structure was dangerous and unsafe, due in part to the risk of debris falling from the building as concrete in the walls separates from the corroding metal underneath.

During the temporary tower’s construction, the Ventura Place roundabout and the boardwalk just in front of the tower are closed on weekdays. To provide access for all users, a temporary walkway has been installed across the sand on the beach side of the seawall.

Construction of the temporary tower is expected to be completed by Memorial Day, which would allow the boardwalk and Ventura Place roundabout to reopen for the summer season.

The city has said that parking effects associated with the construction are expected to be “minimal.”

Once complete, the temporary facilities are expected to remain in place until a project is finalized to address the existing 44-year-old station. But how long that will be is unknown. It’s also unclear whether the existing tower will be patched up to extend its lifespan for a few more years, or if the building will simply be demolished and a new one built on or near its current footprint.

The decision depends in large part on money, something that the city, which faces a current year budget deficit of over $120 million, is short on.

The cost of building totally new facilities would be about $3.5 million and take about 15 months to complete, according to the Engineering and Capital Projects department.