Lori Weisberg should do a story on the history of the Seventh and Market site.
That plot of land is so central but seems to have nothing but problems associated with it.
The Ritz project isn’t the first project to go down in flames.
Back in the 2007/8 time-frame, a big scandal involving Nancy Graham, the head of the previous downtown redev agency, caused a project planned there to be cancelled. Here’s an old render of it and some stories I found on the internet:
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2008/09/11...-audit-of-sedc
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sdut-...htmlstory.html
There has also been the history of the Clermont hotel on that site which is another interesting facet. The site has also been described as an important area for African American history, and groups have wanted that reflected in developments there:
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/.../city-light-1/
Believe it or not, the Clermont hotel has been around since the 1800s!?!?!?!?
I found this interesting article on the history of downtown, and extracted the snipet about Clermont (but the whole article is fascinating)!
https://gaslampfoundation.org/reuben...storic-haunts/
Quote:
In 1887, the historic Clermont Hotel opened its doors to both whites and “people of color” which, in those times, included anyone who was not considered white. This became very important when in 1915, San Diego hosted the Panama-California Exposition, which brought tourists from all over the world to our city. Many were not white and needed places to stay. The Clermont, located at 501 7th Avenue, has an historical designation and still operates as a low-income residential hotel.
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In addition to all that, that lot was apparently also a used car lot at one point that the city closed down due to hookers there. Here’s a comment from a recent UT article on the demise of this site:
“ I remember that lot (7th/Market) Former home of Ed Scholder’s used cars. Unpaved, bumpy dirt lot. I bought a 1950 Wills Jeepster from him and his son on that lot in the 1980s. A fine car. The city put him out of business because of the hookers doing business in the cars. Since mine was a convertible, it probably saw the most action of all. Convertibles are so romantic. Ed told the city that the hooking had stopped, but the guy from the Giant Photo shop across the street took recent photos and showed them at the Planning Commission meeting. He used to really tick off his neighbors in Crown Point, where he parked his excess inventory on the street. Or at least that is how I remember it.”
Let’s face it, seventh and market is definitely a storied piece of San Diego, will be extremely interesting to see what cast of characters take on the next chapter