San Diego Development News

[mongozx]

So India & Beech will start construction this summer? And if I'm not mistaken, it's taller than Allegro? Niiiiice!


And Lane Field's roof is funky but the boxy base has got to go!

[bushman61988]

The 16th and Gateway project is lookin really good. That tower would look HUGE being right next to the freeway. That'll be real nice, hopefully they'll get started this year.

The India & Beech tower is pretty cool too. It looks very similar to a rendering on a poster that's been there for at least the last year. I do like the colors, and I agree SD_Urban, that the best part is it blocks out the back of Alegro...what were those architects thinking???

The Lane Field project is okay, but what REALLY REALLY kills it is the whole "twin tower" thing. That's WAY played out on our skyline, especially since right behind is the Grande. Let's hope the city or CCDC pressures the developers to rething having twin towers of the same design.
The Base is kind of a problem too, but all in all, this will be a GREAT project and at night would go excellent with the skyline.

By the way, i think lane field did grow like a hundred feet higher, but maybe it was jus a typo earlier when they said it would be around 200 feet.

GREAT UPDATES!!!

[sd_urban]

Originally Posted by bushman61988

The Lane Field project is okay, but what REALLY REALLY kills it is the whole "twin tower" thing. That's WAY played out on our skyline, especially since right behind is the Grande. Let's hope the city or CCDC pressures the developers to rething having twin towers of the same design.

The Base is kind of a problem too, but all in all, this will be a GREAT project and at night would go excellent with the skyline.

I could not agree with you more!

Originally Posted by bushman61988

By the way, i think lane field did grow like a hundred feet higher, but maybe it was jus a typo earlier when they said it would be around 200 feet.

I don't recall reading about the heights in the initial article. I always assumed the heights would be 350' and 400', respectively. I also think the rendering I scanned from the paper made the towers appear shorter.

[sterlling]

What was the last big project to break ground downtown? Bayside last year?



Would it be safe to say now that the Library Tower project is pretty much so dead and that Cosmo Square if not dead is on life-support? I know a lot of people now that have tried to get info on these projects with no results. Both projects should have started a long time ago so I'm thinking they're both dead now. Sad. I really wanted these two built before the last boom stopped. Anyone hear anything different on these projects to change my mind?

Will any big project start construction in DT in 2007? I've seen nothing yet that even looks "likely" at this point?

[bushman61988]

Originally Posted by sterlling

What was the last big project to break ground downtown? Bayside last year?



Would it be safe to say now that the Library Tower project is pretty much so dead and that Cosmo Square if not dead is on life-support? I know a lot of people now that have tried to get info on these projects with no results. Both projects should have started a long time ago so I'm thinking they're both dead now. Sad. I really wanted these two built before the last boom stopped. Anyone hear anything different on these projects to change my mind?

Will any big project start construction in DT in 2007? I've seen nothing yet that even looks "likely" at this point?

maybe they're not dead, but delayed. I mean, everyone talked about how the Downtown Bubble burst, and the market would be dead for a while, but if that were the case, there wouldnt be new projects like India & Beech, 16th & Gateway, and such.

[sd_urban]

Originally Posted by sterlling

Will any big project start construction in DT in 2007? I've seen nothing yet that even looks "likely" at this point?

Well, it's only the beginning of March so alot can still happen before the year ends. I think we'll see at least a couple new ones break ground this year.

Regarding Library and Cosmo - I'm not convinced they are dead, but as bushman 1988 put it, they could be delayed. CCDC says that Cosmo will break ground in the Spring, so we'll have to just wait and see.

[sd_urban]

Did you all read the article in today's U-T about Ivanka Trump? Instead of posting the entire drawn-out story of her life, here's an excerpt from it that sounds very promising -


.......Ivanka, who bought one of the units herself, apparently caught San Diego's siren song of bay and climate, like so many other visitors, and had this to say in an interview before recent appearances here at two seminars on a busy Saturday:

“San Diego is a terrific place. The quality of life is exceptional. There is high-end condo-product real estate, but there really isn't super-high-end hotel product, and that's really where I see a niche that needs to be filled. I think we have a brand that can do it. I've been exploring various options for a long time, and it's a market I'm going to enter soon.”

How soon?

“When you hear the announcement, you'll hear the announcement. It'll probably happen pretty soon.”

A few minutes later, she added some more details during her keynote speech before an audience of 1,000 attending a Trump organization-backed “create wealth” all-day investment seminar at the Paradise Point resort in Mission Bay:

“I absolutely love San Diego. Actually, I've spent the better part of this morning exploring the market generally, and I think you'll probably be hearing about a Trump deal coming to this market in the very immediate future.”

She said later in a further telephone conversation that a proposal for a residential-condo hotel project had come up fairly recently but that an announcement was unlikely to be made imminently or in the next few weeks.

“We've kept it fairly quiet,” she said. .....

[mongozx]

Hmmm. For some reason I don't think it would be in downtown. We'll just wait and see.

[derek5]

i hope its downtown

[octosd]

Got this of Cnn.com Mostly about Madison, but SD is in the top 10.

MOST WALKABLE CITIES
1. Madison, Wisconsin
2. Austin, Texas
3. San Francisco, California
4. Charlotte, North Carolina
5. Seattle, Washington
6. Henderson, Nevada
7. San Diego, California
8. San Jose, California
9. Chandler, Arizona
10. Virginia Beach, Virginia

MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- With the thermometer hovering at 22, and the wind ripping off a frozen Lake Mendota, Rink DaVee and his brother Jim decided to take a stroll.

And why not? After all, according to a recent top 10 list, there's no better place in the country for walking than the capital city of a state known more for cheese and beer than exercising.

"It makes you feel better," DaVee said during a break in his walk Wednesday, standing on the icy, snow-covered trail that extends out over the lake. "It gets you through a cold month of March."

Prevention magazine named Madison -- 1,300 miles north of sunny Miami -- as the most walkable of the country's 100 most populated cities. The list was commissioned by the American Podiatric Medical Association based on certain criteria. It ran in editions of the magazine released this week.

Madison beat out the likes of Austin, Texas (No. 2), San Francisco (No. 3) and Miami, which barely cracked the list at No. 98.

Factors contributing to the ranking were air quality, the percentage of people who walk to work, access to parks, number of athletic shoes sold, and (believe it or not) weather.

Number of beaches versus frozen lakes apparently was not a factor. Crime rate, unfortunately for Miami, was.

Adopting a walker-friendly plan 10 years ago was a major plus for Madison, said Prevention magazine's deputy editor Karyn Repinski. That plan focused on maintaining and improving the city's walkability and requires that when roads are redeveloped, they should accommodate not just cars, but bikes and pedestrians, too.

But don't be fooled by all the signs of fitness around town. Madisonians also love their beer, bratwurst and Wisconsin cheese. The city of 250,000 plays host to a four-day extravaganza dubbed "The World's Largest Brat Fest," where nearly 200,000 brats are consumed over four days.

Madison was the only city in the walking top 10 in a state that's not in the South or the West, a point of pride for people like Kathy Andrusz, coordinator of the Fit City initiative. Started in 2003 by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, the program is a collaboration between Madison city officials and more than 30 other groups to combat obesity and get people moving.

"We're definitely touting it," Andrusz said of the walking rating. "We're definitely proud of it and will be able to use it as a sense of pride, if nothing else."
Madison tops other lists

Madison is no stranger to No. 1 rankings. People still talk about Money Magazine naming it the best place to live in 1998, although that ranking dropped to 53rd last year. Outside Magazine named it the best road biking city in August, and other high rankings have come for its being vegetarian-friendly, gay-friendly, environmentally friendly, and, well, according to Midwest Living in 2003, the overall friendliest city in the Midwest.

Even with all that love going around, who wants to break out the walking shoes in the middle of winter? Especially this winter, with snow on the ground every day since January 14, and an average high temperature in February of just 21.7 degrees and an average low of 7.2 degrees. It also snowed 22 inches last month.

"Winter weather is only a barrier if you let it be," Andrusz said. "It's a matter of attitude."

Repinski, the magazine editor who spoke from New York City, which ranked 39th, said only a cynic would let a little winter weather get in the way of walking.

"I walked a mile this morning and I was walking in an inch of snow," she said. "The conditions don't have to be perfect for walking, that's what's nice about it."

Downtown Madison lies on an isthmus with Lake Mendota to the north and Lake Monona to the south. Stretching to the west from the state Capitol is State Street, which is crammed full of bars, restaurants and boutiques, but no cars. It's perfect for, you guessed it, walking.

At the west end of State Street rests the University of Wisconsin, where students are known to complain about the steep climb up Bascom Hill to the administration building, which offers a stunning view of the city and the Capitol dome.

Even with 40,000 students mostly walking to and from class -- and bars at night -- Madison has a remarkable bike trail system, with more than 30 miles of trails and 110 miles of bike lanes even on the busiest of streets. Not to mention the 6,000 acres of parkland.

Zac Stencil, 23, a senior at the university, said he walks about two miles every day to and from classes.

"You can meet cool groups of people who are walking beside you," Stencil said. "Plus, when the lakes are frozen you can walk right across."

[obendega]

I can't believe they put Seattle above San Diego. I grew up in the Seattle area and there are no where NEAR as many good walking spots downtown as there are here.

The Seattle water front can't hold a candle to the Embarcadero. On top of that San Diego has Balboa Park and all the gorgeous beaches. And the weather is always perfect for walking!

Don't get me wrong I love Seattle, (I'm flying there Monday) but I prefer walking in San Diego any day.

[sd_urban]

I saw that walking list earlier and when I saw that SD was in the same company as Henderson, Charlotte and Chandler, I determined the ranking as suspect.

I totally agree with you on the Seattle comment, though. There are way more places to walk around in SD, and you'll find more people outside here than on any given day in Seattle.

[Bud]

I've been lurking for some time. Very nice site and good info on upcoming development.

Since I walk by the Library Tower site frequently, I thought I'd add my observations. The pile of dirt on the site is from the site itself. It was piled up by equipment they bring in about once a week. Currently (3-9-07) there is a big loader on the site loading a truck with dirt. Something is definitely happening.

The dirt right across the street at the site of the new library has just completed remediation. A lot of dirt was sorted into piles, official scientist-looking people came and tested, and much was hauled away. This could be what is happening at the Library Tower site, but I have not seen anyone doing tests.

I am looking forward to the construction of the bridge across Harbor Drive. It will make a good walking city even better.

Bud

[octosd]

I signed up for the email list on Embassy at a booth in Little Italy during the Italian Car Show over the summer. I got this email recently from the developers including a link with a short video. It looks like they have enough confidence in the market to make a ground breaking, just not in Downtown. But interesting small scale project nonetheless. As much as we love downtown, I think we often forget the other urban areas really close to downtown that are defenitely linked. This project is near oldtown and along the trolley line.






We shared the exciting news that we started construction on Stella two weeks ago so I thought it would be fun for you to see for yourself!

Check out this latest video from Eugene Marchese and our construction team.

Click on the link. http://www.stellalife.com/video/video_03-05-07.html

Stella, which will set new benchmarks for residential design in San Diego, is now 13 months from reality.

If you haven’t purchased a unit yet and have been waiting for construction to commence, the time has come!

Get ready for a residential experience you deserve San Diego….Stella will be ready for move in - Spring of 2008. http://www.constellationproperty.com

Let’s talk soon,

Brian Sciutto

[hngcm]

Originally Posted by Bud

I've been lurking for some time. Very nice site and good info on upcoming development.

Since I walk by the Library Tower site frequently, I thought I'd add my observations. The pile of dirt on the site is from the site itself. It was piled up by equipment they bring in about once a week. Currently (3-9-07) there is a big loader on the site loading a truck with dirt. Something is definitely happening.

The dirt right across the street at the site of the new library has just completed remediation. A lot of dirt was sorted into piles, official scientist-looking people came and tested, and much was hauled away. This could be what is happening at the Library Tower site, but I have not seen anyone doing tests.

I am looking forward to the construction of the bridge across Harbor Drive. It will make a good walking city even better.

Bud

Hopefully something develops there.....and welcome to the forums!

As for Stella, it looks hideous.

[derek5]

hahaha octosd...i never realized it said "OCtoSD" til you joined SSP

[hngcm]

Originally Posted by derek5

hahaha octosd...i never realized it said "OCtoSD" til you joined SSP

Octo SD?

Octopus SD!

[octosd]

yeah, born and raised in OC, but want to end up in San Diego. Right now in Boston for undergrad, and next year will be in the Bay area for grad school. Then after that (and hopefully summer internships over the next three years) I will be in SD.

[-Corey-]

San Diego should have its own sub-forum..

[SDfan]

No we shouldn't. Sorry but I don't think we're big enough.