Now in its third year, Balboa Park's Botanical Garden renovation is inching closer to the finished product, new video from the City of San Diego shows.
The city posted a video touring the current state of renovations on X, formerly known as twitter, on Friday. The building is easily one of the most notable sights in Balboa Park and has been closed to the public since January 2022.
"Take a sneak peek with us! The Botanical Building at Balboa Park is coming together. City crews are conducting walkthroughs to make sure every detail is just right before the renovated facility opens to the public later this year," the City of San Diego wrote on the X post.
A city worker ushers in viewers through sage green double doors, revealing high ceilings cast in a brighter, more burnt auburn tone than previously.
Viewers caught a sneak peak of new flooring, a water fountain and of course, botanicals reaching high towards the building's roof. So far, the renovations appear to bring in a lot more light than in the former building.
City crews could be seen handling wire (perhaps for a fantastical light display?) and new, light-colored wooden arches hold up the building.
California
Balboa Park Botanical Garden background information
The iconic structure was built in 1914, in time for the Panama-California Exposition the following year. The renovation project aims to repair more than a century’s worth of issues like rust and corrosion, wood rot and termite damage. The project will also improve accessibility and make the building better able to support crowds, as well as update the irrigation, plumbing and lighting systems.
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The project will cost $28.5 million, paid for by a patchwork of city, state, federal and private funding. It was initially expected to cost around $21 million, but that figure went up by $7 million “due to a combination of inflation, material cost increases and added construction to address some of the unforeseen needs that were discovered,” according to a city spokesman.
Those additional, unanticipated construction needs also elongated the project’s schedule, according to the city. Officials expect to reopen the building this fall, though it could be pushed later. After that, the second phase of the project will begin. Phase 2 will be managed by the nonprofit group Forever Balboa Park and will focus on exterior landscaping and irrigation.
The Botanical Building is home to more than 2,100 plants, most of which were moved to an offsite nursery during the reconstruction. The interior-planting process was underway.
