San Diego: Projects and Developments

[spoonman]

^ I guess toursits can see this as an amenity, but it was really built as another urban part for the city.

[dragonsky]

Ballpark highrise coming to East Village

Starting next month, construction will get under way on one of downtown San Diego’s largest housing developments, following the approval Wednesday by Civic San Diego of the $250 million project.

Located east of the ballpark along Park Boulevard and Imperial Avenue on what is now a surface parking lot, the planned 37-story apartment tower and surrounding low-rise buildings are part of Ballpark Village, originally conceived several years ago by JMI Realty, the developer of Petco Park. JMI, which is partnering with Lennar Homes, is former Padres owner John Moores’ development company that master-planned the district around the ballpark, which opened in April 2004.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/...-construction/

[dragonsky]

Ballpark Village: Downtown's next big thing
Due by 2018 - 713 apartments, shops and San Diego's version of NYC's High Line park

Ballpark Village, in the works for 17 years, got a ceremonial start Friday, as officials gathered for a groundbreaking for a $250 million housing-retail project east of Petco Park.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer called the design by Carrier Johnson + Culture "fantastic" and labor representatives called a community benefits agreement trend-setting.

"Today we're getting it done," said John Kratzer, president of JMI Realty, of downtown's latest big thing.

Turner Construction expects actual work to begin Monday with completion in 2018.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/...star-downtown/

[dragonsky]

Palomar breaks ground on new library
Four-story building set to open at San Marcos college in 2017
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/...arning-center/

[dragonsky]

Rick Caruso plans to preserve most of Carlsbad property as open space

Prominent Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso took another step toward the construction of a large retail and entertainment center in Carlsbad on Tuesday with the announcement that he planned to preserve most of the property as open space.

The move was intended to allay community concerns. Caruso first announced plans for an outdoor shopping center in Carlsbad in 2012. Since then he has met with local residents and officials to formulate a mutually agreeable plan, he said.

"We have learned that Carlsbad wants new access to open space, preservation of its beloved strawberry farming and additional ways to enjoy Carlsbad," Caruso said. The plan, he said, "will accomplish all of these goals, while preserving and protecting the lagoon, coastal habitat and agriculture."

He calls it the Agua Hedionda 85/15 Plan because it would preserve 85% of the land — 176 acres — as open space while developing the remaining 15%.

The open space is to include "significant" acreage dedicated to strawberry farming and other agricultural uses, Caruso said, and will also have miles of new hiking trails and picnic areas. Revenue from the proposed shopping center would pay for maintenance of the open space.

Details about the proposed 26-acre shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation promenade will be announced in coming weeks.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...513-story.html

[dragonsky]

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/africarocks/

Zoo penguins get a financial boost

Plans by the San Diego Zoo to create a new penguin habitat and breeding center received a big boost, thanks to a $5 million donation from local philanthropists.

Longtime supporters of the zoo, Dan and Vi McKinney are contributing $5 million toward the animals' new home, Penguin Beach, the zoo announced Friday. Their contribution, along with support from 1,550 additional donors, is going toward the development of Penguin Beach, a planned seashore habitat and breeding center expected to be home to as many as 50 critically endangered African penguins. It is scheduled to open in 2017 in Contrad Prebys Africa Rocks.

Plans call for a 60,000-gallon penguin pool, which will feature gentle waves lapping on the sand. The design will allow for close-up and underwater viewing by visitors. Also planned are 30 burrows that lead to nest boxes in a penguin care center, where parents can nurture their chicks.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/...-big-donation/

As the San Diego Zoo approaches its centennial in 2016, it is planning the largest expansion in the organization's history: Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks. This 8-acre exhibit complex will transform Dog and Cat Canyon, one of the oldest areas of the Zoo, into an engaging adventure through many of Africa's most extraordinary and diverse landscapes. Leopards, zebras, African penguins, several species of lemurs, hamadryas baboons, ground hornbills, and many more animals will live in habitats that resemble their native homeland.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/africarocks/

[San Diego-Honolulu]

Originally Posted by dragonsky

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/...star-downtown/

Not a big fan of this

[dragonsky]

Balboa Park bypass plan upheld

The $45 million Plaza de Panama plan for Balboa Park sprang back to life Thursday as an appellate court cleared the way to get rid of traffic and cars in the center of the park as advocated by Qualcomm cofounder Irwin Jacobs.

his chief consultant, Gordon Kovtun of KCM Group, said the ruling means the city could renew private funding requests and move forward with the plan to build a bypass off the Cabrillo Bridge, a new garage and new park space in lieu of roadways

Jacobs' plan, approved by the City Council after extensive environmental analysis and public debate, would have detoured cars off the Cabrillo Bridge onto what was called "Centennial Bridge," past the Alcazar Garden behind the House of Charm and on toward a new 800-space garage south of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The top of the garage was to be landscaped as 2.2 acres of new parkland and new walkways would have replaced the present traffic pattern from the Plaza de Panama to the Pan-American Plaza at Presidents Way.

"The ruling allows for the project to reclaim 6.3 acres of pedestrian parkland now dominated by cars, eliminate chronic vehicular congestion that plagues the park on a daily basis, increase parking capacity and create a truly magnificent park for both San Diegans and tourists alike," Kovtun said in an email.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/...g-bypass-soho/

[dragonsky]

New digs for the Asian leopards at San Diego Zoo

Cats -- large and small -- like to be high places, all the better to see their surroundings.

And so the leopard exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, which opened Friday, has overhead passageways for the animals to cross between exhibits. The animals get to gaze down at patrons, just a few feet away.

The passageways are a first for the zoo as it continues to upgrade some aging exhibits. The new 5,500-square-foot exhibit cost $3 million, with more than 1,600 donors.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...606-story.html

[dragonsky]

Shuttle between trolley, airport, arriving
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...port-arriving/

[dragonsky]

Liberty Station food hall getting closer

Nearly a year after plans were unveiled for San Diego's first food hall, the developer says he's lined up his first vendors in time for an October opening at Liberty Station.

Initially scheduled to make its debut in June, Liberty Public Market is still working on securing enough local food and beverage purveyors to create a critical mass for the 22,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Stone Brewing.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...lands-vendors/

[dragonsky]

More highrises headed downtown

Civic San Diego, the city's downtown development-review arm, approved three high-rise projects Wednesday and made legal adjustments to two others.

Most attention was focused on a 253-apartment project at 330 13th Street, just east of the Central Library with its iconic dome.

Directors granted design approval after reviewing nine requests for deviations from various design guidelines, but nixed a light-saber-looking blue light that architect Mark Kirkhart had proposed to accentuate the top floors of the 22-story building.

The project, estimated to cost from $100 million to $125 million, is a project of Richman Group of California, whose president, Luke Daniels, previously was involved with another company's redevelopment plans for the Tops nightclub/China Camp restaurant property on Pacific Highway at Hawthorn Street, now being replaced by a hotel.

DesignARC is the architect with library architect Rob Quigley responsible for an adjacent three-story building, "The Sliver," that will include a ground-floor restaurant and two apartments.Other highlights include a 19-floor "Sky Lounge," hotel-style pool and, on the fourth floor, a spa, hotel-style pool, fire pits, two-level recreation center and gym and demonstration kitchen. Jennifer Ayala, a nonvoting member of CivicSD's real estate committee to offer design critiques, is acting as a project manager through her firm, Nexus Planning Consultants, and would recuse herself from voting on this project. Spurlock Poirier is the landscape architectural firm.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...s-civic-hotel/

[dragonsky]

Pinnacle lives up to its name: 46 stories high

Pinnacle International, the Canadian residential developer, doesn't have to hype the name of its latest project in downtown San Diego.

At 46 stories, Pinnacle on the Park is the tallest apartment building downtown.

And the 1,834-square-foot penthouses (plus 1,100-square-foot, second-floor decks) go for $10,000 per month.

The 484-unit tower with yellow highlights cost more than $150 million, the developer said, and a twin tower immediately north may open in 2019, its highlights painted red. Delayed by the recession, it took 10 years to complete.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...east-villages/

[dragonsky]

Town & Country getting $80M makeover

By the time the ambitious makeover is completed in early 2018, about a third of the current structures will have been bulldozed and in their place will be a grand new entryway and lobby, three new restaurants, a spa and, in the center of it all, a 2-acre water attraction, complete with a sandy beach, slides, waterfalls and a lazy river-style pool.

Also envisioned, although further off from being realized, are plans to develop on the eastern and southern fringes of the property four residential towers with more than 600 apartments that would coexist with Town and Country’s hospitality and convention facilities. As part of an entirely new master plan for the property, the hotel’s current 935 rooms, spread among two towers and low-rise bungalow-style complexes, would be trimmed to 688.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...-80M-makeover/

[dragonsky]

Navy Broadway project clears coastal hurdle

The long-awaited redevelopment of the Navy's downtown waterfront property cleared its next-to-last hurdle Thursday with the announcement of a settlement between the Navy and the California Coastal Commission.

The commission dropped its lawsuit seeking to reconsider the $1.2 billion, 3.25-million-square-foot plan in exchange for new concessions from the developer, Doug Manchester, former owner of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Manchester consultant Perry Dealy said the agreement leaves one more legal impediment to starting construction Manchester Pacific Gateway on the 12-acre site between Pacific Highway, Broadway and Harbor Drive.

The project would include 2.9 million square feet of office space, including a 351,000-square-foot regional headquarters for the Navy; 1,375 hotel rooms; a 40,000-square-foot museum; 213,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; more than 3,100 parking spaces; and a 1.9 acre public park at the corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive. All would be built on land granted to the Navy by city voters in 1920 and leased in 2006 by the Navy to Manchester for 99 years.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ester-coastal/

[dragonsky]

Hi-yah! Legoland ninja ride to use karate chop hand gestures

A First-of-its-kind dark ride coming to Legoland California in 2016 will let riders use karate-chop hand gestures to shoot fireballs at ninja warriors on giant video screens.

The high-tech Ninjago: The Ride will feature sensors on the front of each ride vehicle that register the hand movements of riders who zap color-coded fireballs at digital screens populated with animated Lego figures.

Based on a line of ninja-inspired Lego toys and a spin-off television show, the dark ride will be the centerpiece of a new Asian-inspired Ninjago themed land featuring test-of-skill games, a restaurant and a retail store. Visitors will undergo “ninja training” before boarding the new ride to reinforce the new hand-gesture controls.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/themep...917-story.html

[dragonsky]

Makers Quarter office, rental projects starting
East Village development aims to attract millennials, startup companies

Makers Quarter, a five-block redevelopment plan by the Jerome’s Furniture family, will start construction on its first housing project by the end of the year and the office building in the spring, kicking off downtown’s East Village drive to become San Diego’s new high-tech job center.

Over the next seven years, his development team hopes to produce 971,000 square feet of new office space, 172,900 square feet of retail, and 814 apartments or condos. The total value could approach $1 billion.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...927-story.html

[dragonsky]

Skyline library to replace 1969 branch

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...e-replacement/

[dragonsky]

Plans Revealed for San Diego "Skyway" Ride From Bay to Balboa Park

A proposed aerial cable car system that would take people from the San Diego Bay to Balboa Park was reviewed Friday and a report gave a sneak peek at what the so-called “Skyway” might look like.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...928-story.html
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...308723601.html

[dragonsky]

Brigantine proposed as Anthony’s replacement

The Brigantine should replace the venerable Anthony’s Fish Grotto on the downtown waterfront, says a staff report released Thursday night from the San Diego Unified Port District.

The full board is scheduled to consider the staff’s recommendation at its 1 p.m. meeting Tuesday. If approved, the new restaurant complex, “Portside Pier,” could open as early as late 2017, officials said.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...s-replacement/