![]() |
Many SD biotechs have been acquired by big pharma recently and offices have been shutdown. 2023-2025 is a particularly bad outlook.
|
Quote:
So I'm inclined to give the IQHQ/RaDD folks credit for at least trying to make something happen for Downtown as a bio-tech hub. If they had tenants lined up in 2019, its quite possible that those prospects evaporated. I imagine that 5 years is a very long time in commercial real estate, especially in an industry as dynamic as bio-tech. As far as Downtown being a job center, it doesn't help that the City seems hell-bent on dispersing employees from Downtown to more suburban locations. The City wants to move employees from the City Operations Building to Mission Valley because that building has exceeded its useful life due to shoddy maintenance practices. This is another building that is barely 50 years old. Downtown has the best public transit connections in the entire county--by far. Employees working in Mission Valley will be much less likely to take public transit, even if MV does have one trolley line. So much for the City's commitment to meeting its very ambitious carbon emissions reduction goals. |
Quote:
But I think the bigger issue with downtown is the homeless. If they eliminate the homeless, downtown San Diego will boom as both a residential hub and job center. Until then, vacancy rates will remain much higher downtown than other job centers such as UTC. From an investment perspective, it's tough to get financing for office right now - Particularly in downtown where the vacancy rate is well north of 20%. IQHQ is a fantastic project for the area. Hope to see it do well. Given the location, I think it'll lease once the biotech market gets back going again. |
It's the type of industries present in San Diego that has much more influence over Downtown's position as a job center than the homeless. Downtown was already not a job center before the current homeless crisis.
|
Speaking of UTC and Biotech
It has now been a full 2 years that Alexandria has had that old center shuttered and fenced off across the street from UTC on Genessee. That is a massive and embarrassing eyesore to have across from your trolley terminus and a super luxury mall. Do you think the City is pressuring the developer to change to residential if the biotech and hotel component doesn't pencil out with these "high/completely normal by historical standards" interest rates. :shrug:
The demand for housing is massive in UTC area with all of the children of the CCP elites going to school at UCSD and willing to pay through the nose to be close to campus. |
Quote:
|
IQHQ has a new site for their RaDD development downtown. Not much content yet but there is a nice video of the finished product. I'm surprised they haven't announced any of the retail tenants yet as some are already putting up signage.
My opinion so far, the ground levels are very nice, but the buildings are boring. http://thisisradd.com/ |
Whatever Happened to the Campus at Horton Plaza? Also they've fenced off the park which should be left as is.
|
Quote:
|
The Campus at Horton is going to have the same problems every new office building downtown is having. There's just not a demand right now. For RaDD, it seems weird since the site is picture-perfect, but biotech wants to be where they already are (near UCSD).
Speaking of which: Few signs of life at life science city on San Diego Bay The 1.7 million-square-foot Research and Development District from San Diego-based life science real estate developer IQHQ is not only expanding substantially the glut of available space downtown but also dragging down its lender in the process. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...san-diego-bay/ https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...-001.jpg?w=873 Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
That was an uncharacteristically downbeat article from the UT. I'm not saying that it was off-base, but usually that paper is a bit more optimistic in its coverage of San Diego real estate.
One advantage Downtown San Diego has over North City/Sorrento Valley is its freeway and transit connections. I-5 has already been widened from the Merge up to Oceanside. And the trolley now makes it up to UTC (but not any further north). Are there any realistic plans to improve transit and freeway access in that area any further? La Jolla and Del Mar execs may find it more convenient to drive to Sorrento Valley than Downtown, but how much longer will that be the case as traffic in that area builds with no expansion in roads or transit? Even today I would say its easier to get to Downtown from most of La Jolla because there is a direct ramp from La Jolla Parkway to the 5 South (but not to the 5 North). But even more important are all the other lower-paid workers who live in the South Bay and have jobs in North City/Sorrento Valley. They are the commuters who load up the North 805 in the morning and the South 805 in the afternoon. Working Downtown would be much more convenient for them. Bio-tech, and technology in general, typically favor suburban locations, so it's maybe not surprising that there hasn't been a rush to take up that new space Downtown. For the economic health of Downtown, it sure would be nice if something happens to make that change. |
The RaDd site is such a great location.. not only do you have multiple freeway access, but the trolley lines a block away and our international airport 3 miles north. Also the convention center is just down the street. Beautiful views of the bay, walkability to restaurants and bars downtown. Parks and museums across the street.
|
Quote:
Getting to that space is a pain from north of the 8 if you already have space in the Golden Triangle. But if some HQ Boss (Qualcomm? Someone Else?) wants to make a STATEMENT with their company name in the side of a building, it's the best location in San Diego. You can see how far Manchester has fallen, though, with the last parking lot in the whole site being the "coming in summer 2024" jewel-in-the-crown Manchester hotel that looks like it's never going to get built at this point. |
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
IQHQ Retail
Quote:
The rumored tenants are Javier's Mexican restaurant, Equinox Fitness, a brewery and a small scale grocer. Hopefully they land some big names and make an announcement soon. Horton Plaza has made a few retail tenant announcements |
Great to hear about those retailers coming to RaDD!
Greystar 1st and Beech is going up quickly – view from Beech St: https://i.imgur.com/HWsVVJw.jpeg 1st and Beech – looking south from Cedar St down 1st https://i.imgur.com/PVUJoEV.jpeg Reminder of what 1st and Beech will be: https://i.imgur.com/lrbr6sr.jpeg Also noticed Kettner Crossing going up in Little Italy: https://i.imgur.com/g5XVRMg.jpeg This will be 8 stories of affordable units: https://i.imgur.com/EcHaCaq.jpeg |
Thanks for providing the 1st and Beech rendering. I always forget which of these are which. That'll be a good addition to the area. That area just south of the 5 has a lot of potential.
Nice to see that Kettner project coming along. Such an oddly shaped lot, but I'm glad it'll block that ugly parking garage wall. |
An update was given on the Seaport San Diego Development.
'“Right now we are going through the environmental review process, and this takes several years because we have to go through a lot of different government agencies to make sure they go through the approval process,” said Castaneda." Its going to be quite awhile before our waterfront transforms but I'm becoming increasingly optimistic. http://https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/community-gives-input-on-future-of-waterfront-at-seaport-village/ https://cdn.crtkl.com/wp-content/upl...-thumb-new.jpg |
All times are GMT. The time now is 5:39 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.