City efforts to grow San Diego’s most recognizable Asian business district into a fully-fledged cultural hub and neighborhood are taking shape — but not without growing pains.

What began in the 1980s as a handful of mom-and-pop shops and restaurants along Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa has now established itself as the commercial and cultural heart of the city’s Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

Now, four years after the city first made that designation official, the city has made it more so with the lighting of a long-awaited 30-foot gateway sign whose patterns and designs honor Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

“The Convoy District was built by immigrants, refugees, families and entrepreneurs who believe in San Diego, and their achievements have created a community so special that it warrants the installation of this official landmark,” said Councilmember Kent Lee, who represents the area.

The sign culminates decades of determination by immigrant communities, helping to truly put Convoy on the map, explained Jason Paguio, president and CEO of the Asian Business Association.

“We wanted the sign to be something that wasn’t just representative of the community, but … comprised of the small businesses that it represents,” Paguio said. “It was one of the most incredible feelings … It’s literally all of us coming together. And I think that energy was definitely felt.”

The sign even has a website that spotlights some of those who helped transform Convoy into the bustling cultural hub it is today.

The streetscape is also evolving. After replacing water pipes under a 3.4-mile stretch of Convoy, the city this summer fully repaved it and installed separated bike lanes — part of its climate action and “vision zero” plans to make streets safer.

It’s also all part of a city effort to turn the Convoy district into a thriving, livable mixed-use neighborhood.

In addition to the sign and more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly streets, the Kearny Mesa community plan update approved in 2020 also calls for more homes, parks and high-rise housing along a new trolley line planned for the coming decades.

City officials say this is just the beginning of that transformation, with new housing developments already in the works.

“We anticipate that, down the line, we’re going to see thousands of residents living up and down the Convoy region,” Lee said. “That’s when the dots get connected a little bit more. The possibility of folks traveling up and down the street either by riding a bike, a scooter or walking, we anticipate will become a growing opportunity.”

The changes haven’t come easy for some local business owners. They say they’ve seen fewer cyclists in the lanes than homeless people dragging their belongings and truck drivers illegally parking to make deliveries.

Parking in the area could already be hard to come by. Now it’s scarcer. The new bike lanes were placed along the curb, costing about 300 street parking spaces, a city parking study found.

Local business owners say that’s made parking and traffic worse, frustrated customers and led to a drop in business. Jeff Sallen, chair of the Kearny Mesa Planning Group, said he’s gotten complaints from people in neighboring communities about more congestion, too.

“Customers have always been aware that parking sucks — but now it’s like parking really, really sucks,” said Sandy Vuong Tobin, who co-owns Dumpling Inn and neighboring whiskey bar Shanghai Saloon with her sister.

Her restaurant’s website now opens to a map of parking options. In a nearby strip mall, more than a dozen businesses that share a roughly 100-space parking lot recently hired a parking operator to establish time limits.

That’s helped, said Tom Nickel, owner of O’Brien’s Pub, recently named No. 1 beer bar in America. But it’s still tough for employees to find parking.

“There’s not enough streetlights, so at the end of the night when they close, we’re concerned about their safety,” added Kim Phan, co-owner of the Crab Hut, which is in the same center.

She says sales there have fallen 30% — an especially painful drop because the restaurant’s Convoy location carries its others.

Vuong Tobin says sales are down 20% at her two businesses, and Nickel estimates his are down 10 to 15% on weekdays.

“We hear from customers what a pain it is, or how much further away they have to park, or ‘We don’t come here as often as we used to’ — which really stings,” Nickel said.

Lee said he’s already heard praise for the bike lanes from some residents in neighboring Clairemont, but he acknowledged the concerns.

“The impacts on small businesses, they do matter,” he said.

To mitigate them, city officials have already begun adding angled parking conversions on nearby cross streets. That’s added about 141 spots so far, roughly halving the net loss.

And the City Council agreed last December to establish a parking district — a move that would allow for installing meters to help boost supply and turnover.

The city expects to finalize a contract with the Convoy District Partnership, which supports small businesses in the area, to manage the parking district once it gains nonprofit status. At that point, they’ll work together to develop the next fiscal year’s needs and projects.

Chris Cate, who previously represented the area on the City Council and now chairs the partnership’s nine-member board, hopes to get community input on parking solutions.

In its conceptual plan, the parking district suggests options such as wayfinding signage, meters, valets, shared parking agreements and even a private shuttle to bring workers from nearby office parks during the busy lunch and dinner hours.

To local business owners, those developments still seem very far off.

During the Kearny Mesa project’s design phase in late 2022, city staff presented the bikeway design and parking changes to the Convoy District Partnership and Kearny Mesa Community Planning Group. For some business owners, it was the first time they’d heard of the project — and there was a language barrier for some.

Business owners say they proposed alternatives, such as putting bike lanes on less-trafficked streets nearby — which the city also did, with an unprotected bikeway on nearby Ruffner Street — but they felt the city had already made its decision.

For now, cyclists’ attitudes toward the new lanes vary.

To cyclist Joel Powell, the dedicated lane forces drivers to be more aware of their surroundings and makes it safer for cyclists.

“I haven’t cycled on it yet, but I’m certainly eager to and will use it frequently,” he said.

Richard Sulceto takes near-daily bike rides on his breaks from his job in Kearny Mesa. He’s familiar with the area, but he’s wary of using the new bikeway and prefers to ride among the cars.

“There’s too many driveways on this stretch, and way too many distracted drivers,” Sulceto said after pulling into a boba shop for his afternoon coffee break. “I mean, picture it: You are late for your reservation and are pulling out of the parking lot, stressed after not being able to find a spot — the last thing you’re going to do is check to see if there’s a biker.”