The Pendry Hotel - Gaslamp is above ground now. First floor looks almost complete. Already making a difference on that corner. Will be awesome once it's open for business!
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Yes Pendry and Ballpark Village are going to be very big for our downtown. Big out of the box idea for Horton Plaza: Why doesn't Westfield sell that white elephant to a Chinese Billionaire and have them totally start from scratch? Even renovating that place will be lipstick on a pig and I never really see it being a thriving retail area unless its is totally torn down and start fresh. Look at Brickell Center in Miami with mixed use towers and retail underneath. What do you guys think?
Oh and speaking of a 650 to 750 foot tower in middle of skyline, the space on broadway where old courthouse will be demolished would be perfect for that! |
Regarding the building height limit...if you look at pictures of the crane at the courthouse construction site, it is at least 600+ feet high...above One America Plaza. Looks very cool and is also a shame that an actual building can't be that high.
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Look what the FAA is doing about those cranes... |
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This is just outrageous. It's actually the County Regional Airport Authority who is suing, not the FAA themselves. This airport needs to be relocated so bad, it's really frustrating what the city is willing to put up with just to keep this airport in this problematic location. It impacts development, building heights and density in our core, and overseas flight options that can in-turn impact our local business economy. According to this "news 10" article, a pilot will be on to explain how the cranes pose a risk to incoming flights. I usually avoid the local news but I'm going to record this to see what this pilot says. I have lived downtown for a decade and have never once seen or heard a plane flying low overhead to the point a 600 or 700 or even 800 foot building would ever pose a risk. I've also flown into San Diego "International" airport many, many times and have never gone over downtown. This is especially disturbing because no developer will challenge the 500 ft rule to build a building when people are getting sued just for having a CRANE that's over the height limit. SO frustrating :( http://www.10news.com/news/lawsuit-3...oo-tall-102115 |
http://www.ideadistrictsd.com/groundbreaking/
They're at least having a party..... |
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Put those buildings down below that hill and they wouldn't be that impressive! |
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Would be wonderful to have a new take on Horton Plaza but I am not sure if I agree that you need to demo the entire mall to get there. I think you need to clear the entire mall for a top down renovation but that, while still a huge project, is not as big as a rebuild. If this were done, what I would like to see is: > Remove the food court. > Move the gym to the top floor. > Make the 1st floor a 'Main Street' of bars, restaurants, specialty food shops and entertainment options. > Keep a single big store like Nordstrom, at that corner, but have the exterior all glass like union square. > Take the 3 floors of Macy's and convert to 3 new things. >> First floor would be a large restaurant or club. >> Second floor something like a Crate and Barrel >> Third Floor something like a Williams Sonoma > Remove all of the tacky lower end stores and have your baseline be a 'gap' or better. Something like this would allow Horton Plaza to keep the first level open until 2am and they could just block access to the upper floors once the movies let out. How cool would it be to have down by Jimbo's a butcher, cheese shop and bakery all in one location? With the ample parking, you could actually bring people down to this area just to do their weekly grocery shopping. After 7pm or so, it would convert into another strip like 5th with people out and about. The big difference here would be you could have more of a connection to the moving people than on 5th. I also think the balboa theatre is grossly underused. I don't know why they have such a hard time booking acts. I saw Elvis Costello there years ago and it was an amazing venue that helped with the show. |
https://sandiegans4opengov.files.wor...ce_release.pdf
http://sdstadium.org/press-release-s...wn-initiative/ Start with the press release. It's a plan actually supported by Corey Briggs to raise the TOT and use the funds to build a convention center/stadium downtown. Conveniently right before the NFL public hearing next week..... |
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Logic of 500 foot height limit: It just dawned on me how were Symphony Towers (approved 30 years ago) and Vantage Pointe (12) allowed to be built. Think about it planes fly even with the higher floors of these towers and then as they head NW towards Lindbergh's runway they move AWAY from all other towers downtown.
My point is as the planes move farther west they go away from downtown. The logic would be to have strict height limits near Vantage and Symphony in the NE corner of downtown that is obviously closest to the incoming flight path like maybe 300 feet if they were really that worried about it. Then to the west and south of Symphony Tower region of downtown heights should be allowed up to 850 or whatever. The only danger is in that NE corner. A pilot would never pass by Symphony tower then make a crazy banking turn at the very last seconds of the flight and go near the new courthouse the idea is laughable.... So strange I just don't get it. Have you guys ever seen a plane flying over downtown's towers any lower than 1500 feet? I never have, not even close. |
Taken today. pics don't due justice to the size of this place
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/722/2...8f348aea_z.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5659/...203c3730_z.jpg |
I passed Blue Sky today, i's about 5-6 stories above ground now.
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Does anyone know what the story is behind the Plaza Hotel just up the street on 4th between Broadway and C? Walked by it 1,000 times and always felt it could be converted to an amazing boutique hotel but I am not sure if that's even possible. |
I've been inside. Never again. It's roach-infested, shit stained, and carries an air of many lives taken (either self-inflicted or otherwise). If you're someone that ever winds up here, may God have mercy on you.
Raze it. |
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Does anyone believe the crap the NFL spits about not having 3 SoCal football teams? We have an abundance of professional sports teams.
Or is it three teams would be too much regional competition between owners? Thoughts? |
Dtell: that is just a leverage play on the NFL's part to have that vague statement out there. This is not some documented guideline just something that has been said at one or two press conferences over the years. They didn't even specify if they meant 3 teams in LA or 3 in Southern California. (As you guys have noticed sometimes over the years SD seems to get left out of "SoCal" in the media and it is used as a term to describe LA metro)
I think it is pretty obvious the only one with the money and gravitas to pull off the LA is move is Stan Kroenke. Spanos is the cheap greek who can't even put in a new sound system and video board at his stadium while when all is said and done Kroenke will have put 3 BILLION in to this venture: 900 mill for Rams ownership, 200 mill for Inglewood land, 1.8 billion for stadium! Ahem, and Spanos bought Chargers for a song in 84 and hasn't done crap since all the other owners clearly see he is a speck on Kroenke's shoulder and just trying to "protect his market" so he can get a couple hundred mill kicked down for his trouble. What Kroenke will invest is unprecedented in pro sports, remember dodgers sold for 2.2 billion but they did not build a facility. The big fish get the big pond, it takes money to make money, stay in your lane etc. All these cliches will ring true and Spanos will just have to make his paltry 2.5 billion in his team equity here in SD, I'm shedding a tear for the poor guy as I type this. |
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