SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2

[Will O' Wisp]

Originally Posted by roletand

Based on that context, the station connection seems less like an afterthought. If this thing gets built in the proposed location, I'll still use it, don't get me wrong about that. But I'm someone who's already on-board with expanding public transportation.

If more people are to use an expanded system the goal of the operators should be to reduce the barriers of entry, even if that means building two stations within a 1/2 mile of each other at the same airport. On the green line, Santa Fe Depot to Seaport Village is .3 miles, another .3 miles to Convention Center, and another .3 miles to the Gaslamp stop.

If walking distance from the gate isn't a major factor, maybe the airport should move the ridesharing, bus, taxi, & shuttle stops to the new transit connector and leave curbside pickups to individual vehicles.

There have been some me-shaped people who have suggested that very thing. LAX recently announced a similar policy, which has kicked up a stormload of controversy even though it will measurably improve traffic within the terminal loop. Unfortunately, even commonsense approaches to transit can be difficult to push in the USA.

A transit connection with all the bells and whistles can be a tough sell. The airport with the highest amount of passengers arriving via public transit in the US is New York's JFK, at just 10%. Only 7-8% of SFO's passengers arrive via transit, even though they have a free APM with enough stations to ensure you're never more than 1/3rd of a mile from your gate. From that perspective a single station is probably "good enough".

Ikkhara believes that with the Grand Central and a fee on drop-offs at the terminals, transit usage at the airport can reach ~30%, more in line with European airports. I'd like to see him him succeed, but there are plenty of doubts about reaching that figure. When it came time to negotiate and plan out how passengers would reach the airport as part of the approval process of T1, airport management was more focused on getting a new onramp/offramp from the 5 to handle the increase in traffic, instead of assuming a large future increase in transit ridership.

That way even if the transit connection turns out to be less popular than hoped (or even doesn't get built at all), overall connection to the airport won't be effected. The single station option plays well with this idea as well, it's cheaper and doesn't require the airport to expend a lot of effort to integrate the system when/if it's built.

Such is public transit politics in America.

[Streamliner]

Just wanted to say thanks for all your insight Will O' Wisp. Always happy to see your contributions

[roletand]

Originally Posted by Streamliner

Just wanted to say thanks for all your insight Will O' Wisp. Always happy to see your contributions

Agreed! Thanks Will O' Wisp for consistently posting good insights on San Diego's growth & development!

[Streamliner]

Mid-rise next to UCSD about to start construction. As expected, many La Jollans were horrified by it.



https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...cal-tower-ucsd
Construction to start on 7-story off-campus science and medical tower for UC San Diego
San Diego Union-Tribune
Gary Robbins
July 7, 2021

In a sign that UC San Diego is beginning to run out of space for big buildings, a private developer is about to break ground on a 7-story tower that the university will use to house health and medical programs across the street from main campus.

...


LJIC will be adjacent to many buildings that UCSD already leases, and be just across the street from the UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA Medical Center. That area is expected to become much busier later this year when Blue Line trolley stations open nearby.

The new center will be 100 feet tall, which sparked opposition earlier this year at a University Community Planning Group meeting. Some people said the building should be no taller than 30 feet to ensure that it complies with the Prop D, City Coastal Zone height limit.

[unpermitted_variance]

I was wondering what was gonna replace Rock Bottom on that corner; I'd heard through the grapevine that UCSD Extension would have something to do with it, but I see no indication of this in the article.

Site is preparing for demolition right now:




Clever partnership between the university and the developer to get around the coastal height limit, which doesn't apply to the UC's land. Developer sells land to university, university "partners" with developer to build 100ft office, developer leases it all out to the university. It's an effective workaround to a height limit that really has no reason to be applied to the site, but that's not the sort of thing that La Jolla NIMBYs would understand.


Also barely visible in the background is Lux UTC phase 2 almost at completion. The fin on the roof, similar to the first tower, is currently being installed.

[Streamliner]

Originally Posted by unpermitted_variance

I was wondering what was gonna replace Rock Bottom on that corner; I'd heard through the grapevine that UCSD Extension would have something to do with it, but I see no indication of this in the article.

...

Clever partnership between the university and the developer to get around the coastal height limit, which doesn't apply to the UC's land. Developer sells land to university, university "partners" with developer to build 100ft office, developer leases it all out to the university. It's an effective workaround to a height limit that really has no reason to be applied to the site, but that's not the sort of thing that La Jolla NIMBYs would understand.


Also barely visible in the background is Lux UTC phase 2 almost at completion. The fin on the roof, similar to the first tower, is currently being installed.

Yes the article mentioned health services, but UCSD Extension will be taking a big portion of the building. Extension's current location (dingy buildings north of the new North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood) is insufficient.

You're right that the 30-foot height limit in that location makes no sense. I wish the limit would be revoked à la Prop E for the rest of this area, as it's a prime transit oriented development location. The TOD aspect was actually a factor that allowed the EIR to waive off aesthetic concerns per state law.

[unpermitted_variance]

Originally Posted by Streamliner

You're right that the 30-foot height limit in that location makes no sense. I wish the limit would be revoked à la Prop E for the rest of this area, as it's a prime transit oriented development location. The TOD aspect was actually a factor that allowed the EIR to waive off aesthetic concerns per state law.

Agreed - I see huge potential for TOD around the La Jolla Village shopping centers where the Nobel Drive trolley stop will be - the abandoned former Islands restaurant, lots of underutilized parking, other low-story mall buildings. Unfortunately I don't foresee a Prop E-style coastal height limit exception happening in this area any time soon, so I expect the sites to remain underutilized (unless the UC wants to do some more "development partnerships"?)

[eburress]

Originally Posted by unpermitted_variance

I was wondering what was gonna replace Rock Bottom on that corner; I'd heard through the grapevine that UCSD Extension would have something to do with it, but I see no indication of this in the article.

Site is preparing for demolition right now:

Awww it's sad to see Rock Bottom go. So much nostalgia, having gone there now and then over the last 20 years.

[Will O' Wisp]

@streamliner and @roletand

Aww you guys

The pleasure's all mine, you guys are better at keeping me on my toes than my bosses sometimes! Great practice for when more formal questions come up.

I only wish I had the time to post more often. Speaking of, here's a map of the pavement construction with a timeline. Each half of the new T1 will be completed at the same time the pavement around it is finished, so it actually comes out to a full project timeline/map funnily enough.

[dl3000]

Originally Posted by Will O' Wisp

@streamliner and @roletand

Aww you guys

The pleasure's all mine, you guys are better at keeping me on my toes than my bosses sometimes! Great practice for when more formal questions come up.

I only wish I had the time to post more often. Speaking of, here's a map of the pavement construction with a timeline. Each half of the new T1 will be completed at the same time the pavement around it is finished, so it actually comes out to a full project timeline/map funnily enough.

Oh hell yes, finally some CAD drawings! Awesome stuff, Will!

[roletand]

Originally Posted by Will O' Wisp

@streamliner and @roletand

Aww you guys

The pleasure's all mine, you guys are better at keeping me on my toes than my bosses sometimes! Great practice for when more formal questions come up.

I only wish I had the time to post more often. Speaking of, here's a map of the pavement construction with a timeline. Each half of the new T1 will be completed at the same time the pavement around it is finished, so it actually comes out to a full project timeline/map funnily enough.

That cistern is going to be pretty massive at 1.5M gallons! I knew the airport reuses water, but didn't realize the scale of it.

https://www.san.org/blog/blog-detail...sustainability

[DTSDguy]

Cisterra breaks ground on "Radian" (9 &G) apartment tower with Urban Target as ground floor tenant! This will be a very welcome addition to DT.


SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Construction began Tuesday on a 255,000-square-foot, 22-story retail and residential high rise tower in the East Village, with a scheduled completion in 2023.

Cisterra Development, a San Diego-based real estate development firm, said the Radian project will feature 241 housing units and a Target retail store.

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/busine...age-high-rise/

[deja vu]

Hey there! I've never posted on this thread before, but because this came across one of my feeds, I thought I'd share it. SDSU celebrated topping out of its new Aztec Stadium this past Thursday. 6.4 million pounds of structural steel (2,500 beams) have been set over the last 3 months. 5,500 tradespeople involved in the project -






Source: LinkedIn | Clark Construction Group

[SDCAL]

Originally Posted by DTSDguy

Cisterra breaks ground on "Radian" (9 &G) apartment tower with Urban Target as ground floor tenant! This will be a very welcome addition to DT.


SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Construction began Tuesday on a 255,000-square-foot, 22-story retail and residential high rise tower in the East Village, with a scheduled completion in 2023.

Cisterra Development, a San Diego-based real estate development firm, said the Radian project will feature 241 housing units and a Target retail store.

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/busine...age-high-rise/

I saw this too and happy this project is breaking ground and we will have the Target downtown. BUT, I guess the elephant in room is wtf is happening with 7th/Market aka the Ritz Carlton project which is also Cisterra. Seems like a bad sign that they were able to get funding so quickly for this one, yet the Ritz project still festers after SIX YEARS now.

Anyone have any information?

At this point I wish they’d either start construction or announce it’s over so a developer can come up with something else. Every time I go by that nasty surface lot I cringe 😣

[iReserve]

Originally Posted by SDCAL

I saw this too and happy this project is breaking ground and we will have the Target downtown. BUT, I guess the elephant in room is wtf is happening with 7th/Market aka the Ritz Carlton project which is also Cisterra. Seems like a bad sign that they were able to get funding so quickly for this one, yet the Ritz project still festers after SIX YEARS now.

Anyone have any information?

At this point I wish they’d either start construction or announce it’s over so a developer can come up with something else. Every time I go by that nasty surface lot I cringe 😣

SDCAL, there is an interview (with Jason Wood from Cisterra) on Youtube from late last year which provided some updates:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g2Kl6fcBD4

Cisterra just updated 7th & Market info on their website last week which confirmed the changes:

- https://www.cisterra.com/7thandmarket

It seems the project is moving forward and will start soon (this summer)!

[Streamliner]

Originally Posted by deja vu

Hey there! I've never posted on this thread before, but because this came across one of my feeds, I thought I'd share it. SDSU celebrated topping out of its new Aztec Stadium this past Thursday. 6.4 million pounds of structural steel (2,500 beams) have been set over the last 3 months. 5,500 tradespeople involved in the project -

I saw this from the freeway the other day. It seems like just yesterday that they were demolishing Qualcomm, this went up fast. Glad to see the progress

[SDCAL]

Originally Posted by iReserve

SDCAL, there is an interview (with Jason Wood from Cisterra) on Youtube from late last year which provided some updates:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g2Kl6fcBD4

Cisterra just updated 7th & Market info on their website last week which confirmed the changes:

- https://www.cisterra.com/7thandmarket

It seems the project is moving forward and will start soon (this summer)!

Thanks for posting that YouTube video! I’d never seen that before and there’s a lot of good, detailed information about the various things that have held-up the project. It seems like Ritz is very committed even wanting to expand the number of hotel rooms.

Their website still says start construction 2020 with completion 2023, but in the YouTube video they confirm it will be complete 2024.

[dirt patch]

It looks like Downtown development will slow down dramatically as housing units and office space flood the market, along with meh hotel market. Downtown may one or two more breaking ground and then that's it for 5 years.

[Streamliner]

Article about Bosa's Diega:

Downtown San Diego's third-biggest apartment complex set to open
July 22, 2021
Phillip Molnar
San Diego Union-Tribune

There could soon be a whole lot more people living downtown.

After three years of construction, the 400-foot Diega apartment complex puts the finishing touches on this month. It has 617 units, making it the third-biggest apartment complex in downtown.

When Diega began construction, Bosa was looking to take advantage of rapid rent growth in San Diego. After a lull in rents during the pandemic, Diega may be in a position to take advantage of the market heating up again.

he average rent in San Diego County hit $2,009 a month in the second quarter of 2021, said real estate tracker CoStar’s database of 270,596 units. That is an increase of 8.4 percent in a year and the biggest annual jump in CoStar’s data going back to 2001. The previous high point was in the third quarter of 2015 when rent grew 7 percent year-over-year.

Diega is in heavy competition for renters with some of the newest and amenity-heavy downtown towers just a few blocks away, including Alexan ALX, Shift and the remodeled John D. Spreckels Building.

[HurricaneHugo]

What is that new tall building in the middle?

Also what's the height limit for Banker's Hill?

When flying in, I forgot to get a seat on the left but was pleasantly surprised at how built Banker's Hill looks from up high. Didn't take a picture though oops