Manchester Financial Eyes 400MW Data Center on San Diego Navy Site

A 400MW data center could rise on 70 acres of federal land at San Diego's Naval Base Point Loma, where Manchester Financial Group is working to secure investment for the project on the site of the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR).

Voice of San Diego first reported the proposal. Full design details remain undisclosed, and no final project has received approval. If built, the facility would mark the first data center in the portfolio of a company founded in 1970 that has specialized in hotel and commercial property development.

Who controls the land and the deal?

The US government owns the site. In 2024, the Navy selected Manchester and Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate, an affiliate of Clark Construction, to redevelop and replace the old command center under a 99-year lease. In exchange, the developers must deliver new office space for NAVWAR.

At the time, the Navy stated that the existing headquarters are "well beyond their useful life and negatively affect NAVWAR's cyber warfare mission, security, and workforce safety."

NAVWAR serves as the Navy's technical authority and acquisition command for C4ISR — Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance — plus business information technology and space systems. Formerly named SPAWAR, the command has occupied Point Loma since 1997. Thousands of its staff currently work out of World War II-era aircraft hangars. The Navy announced redevelopment plans for the headquarters, also known as the Navy Old Town Campus, in 2022.

In short: the government holds the land, but a private pair holds development rights tied to a 99-year lease.

What did Manchester previously promise?

Manchester's earlier pitches for the site included apartments — some for military families — hotels, restaurants and retail. A stadium, a hospital and a university have also reportedly been under consideration. Current reporting indicates any final design will be a mixed-use development combining homes with retail.

"The potential plans for this site continue to be refined, and no final project has been approved," Manchester Financial said in a statement to Voice of San Diego. "Our first priority is delivering modern facilities for NAVWAR, and we remain committed to working with the Navy and other key stakeholders throughout this process."

Manchester's M Commercial Properties division focuses on office space, biotech facilities, and research and development properties. The firm won a comparable Navy contract in 2006 to redevelop the 12-acre Navy Broadway Complex.

The record shows a hotel developer with no operating data centers stepping into a 400MW power commitment.

Why are local officials objecting?

Elected representatives have criticized the data center concept, citing insufficient information and transparency, and arguing housing would serve the area better.

"It should be a new community, a new mini downtown if you will, right next to the highway with access to transportation, where we can have housing," Rep. Scott Peters said recently. "A data center isn't neighborhood-serving. It's not really something that belongs here. It belongs in a more remote, industrial place."

Councilmember Marni von Wilpert told Fox that the shift contradicts what developers presented earlier. "They showed me an entire portfolio of housing and park space and commercial real estate and job creation. That is what they promised the people of this community," von Wilpert said. "I found out in a newspaper article that they may be changing their mind."

Local opposition now frames the site's future as a choice between compute capacity and housing.

Does this fit a federal pattern?

Manchester's agreement stands separate from broader federal efforts, but Washington has moved to open government-owned land for data center construction. It has identified multiple Department of Energy and Department of Defense sites as candidates. Brookfield and SoftBank are set to develop two large projects on DOE-owned land.

The NAVWAR proposal, if approved, would add 400MW of capacity to a federal-land pipeline already expanding under that policy.