California's Best And Worst Mid-Sized City Downtowns

[Mr.Hollywood]

Hey kinda off Topic but What about Oxnard? its pop. 197,100 if im not mistaken, Why Hasnt there been much Highrise Development? The size of the city is pretty ideal and its urbanity is great and i know it has the potential for maybe 2 or three extra highrises besides the Morgan Stanley Bldg. and the Other 500 esplanade... any pics?

[CrazyAboutCities]

I used to live in Ventura before... Oxnard do have some history of few developers tried to build more high rises surrounding three high rises. One big project including 46 stories (I think) and few others at around 30 stories were killed last year. There will have two new high rise (around 20 stories I think) will be built on Wheel Wagon site near Esplanade Shopping Center. Long time ago, one developer who built two towers in Oxnard had plan to build third one but he died.

Ventura do have some proposed mid rises on beach near pier. I don't know the status of these projects.

[Mr.Hollywood]

Yeah i think i heard about some condominium high rises in the wagon wheel area im not sure but i think this is it if im not mistaken..

[CrazyAboutCities]

Yes that's correct. That three proposed towers on old Levitz site are dead.

I think it is interesting that Oxnard built three high rises far out of its downtown area. I wonder why not they build it in downtown area instead.

[Mr.Hollywood]

so i guess those two are still proposed or aprooved??? i know the three are dead..

[CrazyAboutCities]

I think it got approved a while ago but I don't know what their status right now. It is possibly on hold right now.

[QuarterMileSidewalk]

Originally Posted by CrazyAboutCities

I think it is interesting that Oxnard built three high rises far out of its downtown area. I wonder why not they build it in downtown area instead.

I believe that the Downtown area of Oxnard had been considered a more unsafe part of the city, and the area where the two high-rises were built had more space to build a more modern, suburban-style complex.

I used to live in Moorpark, just a few miles east of Oxnard, and I always loved it when we'd drive out to Oxnard for shopping and beach trips, but we just never went to downtown Oxnard. It was always the big strips along the 101.

I certainly hope the Ventura County cities begin making a more concerted effort towards vertical redevelopment in the future... I'm no anti-sprawl fanatic, but it'd still be a shame to see much more of the beautiful hills and farms of the region built over by any sort of development.

[Mr.Hollywood]

Originally Posted by CrazyAboutCities

I think it got approved a while ago but I don't know what their status right now. It is possibly on hold right now.

Yeah i think it is on Hold because last i remember maybe like since last February or maybe even Last December i first saw this and from Going back to oxnard this Augus i have not seen any type of Construction on the site at all....

[ElDudarinodotcom]

It's too bad the proposed towers on the Levitz site were dropped. They looked pretty decent, and a garbage city like Oxnard could have used something like this.

image hosted on flickr

[Mr.Hollywood]

WHAT THE F***!?! damn that would have looked sooo good in Oxnard... Too damn bad it was cancelled

[QuarterMileSidewalk]

I liked the Channel Islands Center proposal much more than the Wagon Wheel area design... I hadn't heard it was cancelled officially, until now. Bummer.

Ventura county will get its grand skyline someday, though.

[CrazyAboutCities]

Originally Posted by QuarterMileSidewalk

I believe that the Downtown area of Oxnard had been considered a more unsafe part of the city, and the area where the two high-rises were built had more space to build a more modern, suburban-style complex.

I used to live in Moorpark, just a few miles east of Oxnard, and I always loved it when we'd drive out to Oxnard for shopping and beach trips, but we just never went to downtown Oxnard. It was always the big strips along the 101.

I certainly hope the Ventura County cities begin making a more concerted effort towards vertical redevelopment in the future... I'm no anti-sprawl fanatic, but it'd still be a shame to see much more of the beautiful hills and farms of the region built over by any sort of development.

Yeah. I used to go to shopping in both Ventura and Oxnard. I only been to downtown Oxnard maybe once or twice in 8 years of living in Ventura and never had any good reason to go there. I wish both Oxnard and Ventura would build more high rises. It is seen like it is hard to get it built these days now.

Originally Posted by Mr.Hollywood

Yeah i think it is on Hold because last i remember maybe like since last February or maybe even Last December i first saw this and from Going back to oxnard this Augus i have not seen any type of Construction on the site at all....

Yeah

Originally Posted by ElDudarinodotcom

It's too bad the proposed towers on the Levitz site were dropped. They looked pretty decent, and a garbage city like Oxnard could have used something like this.

image hosted on flickr

WOW! I never seen this rendering before! That is WAY better than other renderings I seen. That is really bummer it didn't get built!

Originally Posted by QuarterMileSidewalk

I liked the Channel Islands Center proposal much more than the Wagon Wheel area design... I hadn't heard it was cancelled officially, until now. Bummer.

Ventura county will get its grand skyline someday, though.

I think Wheel Wagon redevelopment is good too since it is mixed uses and bring community together into one big site.

[Skyscraperologist]

I agree with the report. But I think downtown Sacramento is one of the most pedestrian friendly places in California. Shopping is limited, but I hate shopping so that's not much of an issue for me.

Downtowns are important because they tell you about the character, economy, sociology, and history of city. A good downtown is usually matched by a healthy city. When you see a run-down downtown, you'll know the city is in bad shape. That certainly applies to San Bernardino. I lived briefly is "S.B." earlier this year and I've never been happier to leave a place. In downtown San Bernardino, the ratio of police cars to civilian vehicles is around 2:1. Pedestrians.... non existent! Shopping...what shopping? Hotels... at your own risk--they're run by drug dealers. Safety...LOL...If you want safety, leave! This place has one the highest murder rates in the developed world. Night life...maybe if you're a criminal! Convention center...drive another 20 west to Ontario. Just about the only good thing in this God-forsaken downtown is the sweet Hispanic bank teller at the big Bank of America building.

Downtown San Bernardino is a strong contender for the not-so-honorable title "Worst place in the United States."


Probably the worst downtowns in America are in the following cities:

-Compton, CA
-San Bernardino, CA
-Fresno, CA
-Detroit, MI
-Flint, MI
-Fargo, ND

Please feel free to add or remove from this list as you see fit!

[krudmonk]

Why would you include Compton? It's not really that big or the anchor of a metro area.

[CrazyAboutCities]

I think downtown Buffalo, New York is one of worst downtowns in USA. Last time I went there, it was DEAD!!! Almost nothing there but just casino with couple of burning trash bins. No stores or restaurants there... I don't know if it is still like that by now... I went there around five years ago and never forget how horrible it was...

[chrisnyce]

Originally Posted by JoshuaSantos

Man, that airport is really close to downtown. Shows that you can still have height even with an airport close by. Hope someone in SJ is listening =).

In terms of fun, you can't even compare downtown San Diego with LA... San Diego wins hands down. It's a better designed downtown filled with vibrancy.

Downtown San Jose is nice because I can always find someplace to park! San Jose has a lot of potential because of it's large area and has alot more room to be developed. Historically, San Jose was agricultural in nature and the feeling here even though the population nears a million, is still that of a small town. Downtown San Jose never was very cosmopolitan but recently this seems to be changing.

I.M.O. San Francisco is the only city in California that you can live in without a car. And furthermore, if you don't mind the hike, there are plenty of places to walk without even taking a bus or subway. This, to me, defines true accessibility. Street level retail is worthwhile when you have high foot traffic. Granted I really like San Diego alot, from a distance it looks far more dense than it actually feels when you are there. It's a great town but San Francisco, though a far cry from NYC, has more similarities with New York than San Diego does.

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by chrisnyce

Downtown San Jose is nice because I can always find someplace to park! San Jose has a lot of potential because of it's large area and has alot more room to be developed. Historically, San Jose was agricultural in nature and the feeling here even though the population nears a million, is still that of a small town. Downtown San Jose never was very cosmopolitan but recently this seems to be changing.

I.M.O. San Francisco is the only city in California that you can live in without a car. And furthermore, if you don't mind the hike, there are plenty of places to walk without even taking a bus or subway. This, to me, defines true accessibility. Street level retail is worthwhile when you have high foot traffic. Granted I really like San Diego alot, from a distance it looks far more dense than it actually feels when you are there. It's a great town but San Francisco, though a far cry from NYC, has more similarities with New York than San Diego does.

Agreed.

[soup or man]

Originally Posted by CrazyAboutCities

When I lived in San Diego, its downtown had few high rises at that time and added so many new buildings since early 1990s. It is amazing to see how much San Diego have been grown since then. I would love to see downtown San Diego to start build taller than 500' and it would nice to have few supertalls too. I fail to see why can't San Diego to increase the height limitation since planes are not fly over them only pass by.

I don't know if you've ever flown into San Diego but planes do fly VERY close to the buildings.

[soup or man]

And San Bernardino is undergoing a resurrection that will TOTALLY transform itself.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=173356

[QuarterMileSidewalk]

^and not a moment too soon. Ever since I moved to the Inland Empire and visited SB, I've thought of it as the Detroit of the West Coast. If the city can really pull it off (and I hope they do), it could jump to the cutting edge of urban planning in just a few years.