The long-awaited renovation of the San Diego Convention Center’s iconic sails pavilion is now complete, but it comes with an unexpected bonus: colored lights that will illuminate the city’s skyline.
The $16.7 million redo of the center’s sails pavilion, including the new fabric roof, concrete flooring, lighting and water cannons for fire suppression, officially debuted this week. The biggest part of the project was replacing the tattered fabric covering and installing a new supporting cable system for the rooftop, a glass-enclosed space that spans 90,000 square feet.
What wasn’t expected is a new LED system that has the capability of lighting up the rooftop sails in a variety of colors that can even be synchronized to music. The lighting feature is being touted primarily as a way to give San Diego a competitive edge when luring groups to bring their meetings here. What hasn’t been decided yet, though, is how much the Convention Center Corp. would charge customers if they want a customized, multi-hued lighting presentation.