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Great Article from Daily Transcript
A Louisiana real estate and marketing specialist offered up a new tagline for San Diego: Live outdoors.
“You guys have absolutely no excuse, whatsoever, not to be the most walkable, bikeable city in the United States,” said Nathan Norris, CEO of Downtown Lafayette, a nonprofit which worked on revitalizing downtown Lafayette, La. Ideal weather and variable landscape could, and should, drive future development decisions, because it’s already affecting lifestyle choices, Norris said. “What do you have that other people don’t have? You have a beautiful setting with great weather. You can live outdoors the entire year,” said Norris, an attorney, real estate broker and marketing specialist. “You’re lucky your topography and natural environment keeps you from being Atlanta -- you have nature that keeps you somewhat compact in certain areas.” Norris has been traveling the country talking to Realtor groups, thanks to a National Association of Realtors grant that encourages locals to be more active in deciding how their cities grow. He discussed "place making" and functional design as key in creating healthy, smart-growth communities. The Greater San Diego Association of Realtors’ intimate “Smart Growth in the 21st Century” summit — with less than a dozen people attending — allowed for more conversation than presentation throughout the four hours. Though small, the group was diverse: a Chicago transplant, a man returning from years in Japan, a new Realtor, a lifelong San Diegan and a civil engineer, among others. “Your downtown is really fascinating to me. It’s so close to being the best downtown in America,” said Norris, previously of the New Mexico-based PlaceMakers. “And yet everything I see that’s new, it’s like the additions that are coming are just not getting this detail right or that detail right, and that impacts its overall vibrancy in the long haul. You have too [many] suburban design elements still being the default setting downtown.” From an outsider’s perspective, downtown San Diego could be “so much better” if a few things were changed, based on functional design details. For instance, allowing windows to be opened in office buildings, such as the one where the summit was held in the complex housing SDAR’s Kearny Mesa Service Center on Ronson Court, he said. Focusing on traditional neighborhood design, rather than sprawling suburban neighborhoods, was another example, as was allowing for visually stimulating density and development. The city should build with the goal of vibrancy, such as using chamfered corners instead of 90-degree angles, and create village centers that get cars off freeways, he said. The city should also consider incremental urbanism that allows for staged development. The demand for large living spaces is also fading here, Norris said. Ample amenities outside, combined with the mild weather, allow for smaller living environments. Of course, housing options aren’t one size fits all, and a housing type for each buyer may last about 10 years, and then alter due to life situations, he said. A variety of housing styles in one neighborhood, such as the traditional neighborhood design of The Waters in Montgomery, Ala., which he worked on, allows for diverse areas with a range of housing opportunities and choices. Norris also praised the City of Villages method as a way to accommodate growth, with strong village centers connected by transit lines. Naysayers might not understand the full potential of such a plan, he said. “If someone is objecting [to] density, they’re objecting [to] poorly designed density,” Norris said. “They haven’t seen good density.” Transit and density go hand in hand, allowing affordability and sustainability. Norris recommends first planning where high-density zones would be, to support certain types of transit. Graphic-based codes also help simplify zoning descriptions and make for better understanding among developers, city officials and residents. The country is now facing a new “perfect storm” for a great migration, as the Millennial generation — ages 18 to 34 — drives radical changes in buyer preferences, Norris said. Factors include declining quality of suburbs, an aging population that wants to use transit as they lose their ability to drive and smaller households with more women in the workforce. “We don’t need to keep building the way we did,” Norris said. Convenience and vibrancy are key to making downtown urban settings work. Downtowns should look to the traditional mall for an example as to how to design effectively around human behavior: Glass storefronts keep shoppers engaged, wide walkways allow ease of use, and signs and lighting are also placed in appropriate sizes and spaces. “Nothing is by accident,” Norris said. http://www.sddt.com/RealEstate/artic...lkable#Article I just subscribed to Daily Transcript and even though it's pricey, it's totally worth it for stories like this and I encourage you all to get it too. Anyway, I really wish I could've been there to hear this guy, because he's totally right about us taking for granted our perfect weather, and we really should be the most bikeable, walkable region in the country. We also don't embrace the climate in our design features and should. Here's also some info on him: http://www.newurbanguild.com/about-u...is-nathan.html |
A wooden construction fence is being built around Bosa's Pacific and Broadway lot. Hopefully this means he is about to break ground!
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is it going to start construction soon?
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Do any of you know what this one will be named, assuming the name has been chosen?
I seem to recall the developer saying they would put it to the public as to what the project should be named. |
In that first rendering from Urbanizeit the tower doesn't look very tall. I'm hoping that it has higher ceilings than normal because at 41 floors it will basically be as tall as the Grande towers.
Hopefully we will be seeing the proposals for 7th and Market soon. I also read that the city owns the lot where the RadLab park is going to be and they have been trying to get proposals from developers. That seems like a prime lot what is the hold up? |
Mello: Here is the info regarding Park and Market. IDEA District is one of the finalists.
Also, Pacific Highway and Broadway is supposed to be around 450 feet. The name will be decided by a naming contest. http://www.ideadistrictsd.com/park-and-market/ |
^^ As long as Park and Market is a tall tower I'm cool with it. I don't want to see another short long structure like IDEA1. We can't continue to take up prime land with midrises. I see one of the proposals is from a company in Vancouver so I expect that to be a tall one.
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It's a great looking tower. I wish they'd front the street to the north side corners though.
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IDEA1 will break ground Q1 2015 from according to the IDEA district website. Also, I emailed David Malmuth, one of the developers of the project, who said the same thing.
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I wanted to get the fellow SD forumers opinion on the prospects for growth in San Diego tech with regards to "Near Shoring". I did a google search for - San Diego near shoring jobs to Tijuana - and you get articles by Huff Post, Al Jazeera, all kinds of stuff talking about how companies can set up here and then utilize cheap talent and production in TJ.
There was a big conference about this called Innovadora something in October with a big write up in the UT. Do you guys think this is all hype or could we really have something special going here? I was thinking about maybe doing consulting to get companies to come here but I don't know how realistic it is. It seems like a great sell instead of dealing with China or Southeast Asia and all the headaches of offshoring, come to SD live a great lifestyle and near shore 15 - 25 miles from where you live (easy access with SENTRI and shorter border waits now). Thanks for your input. |
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I think if you tried to produce iPhones in TJ, the troubles of importing all the materials, transporting them to the production sites, and environmental compliance would quickly override the cost savings of employee travel and shipping to the US. It sure would be nice though. Environmentally better and the outsourced money would be strenghening a neighbor rather than a competitor. |
You raise good points, Aero. It is interesting that Mexican industry is influenced heavily by the US, including in the environmental arena.
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Watching Sunday Night Football now and man our night skyline looks so dark from the blimp cam NBC has. The vantage point is over coronado looking to the North East obviosly because the north side of DT is the flightpath to Lindbergh.
Maybe blimp shots from the North Over mission hills would be much better. The condo towers are all dark shadows. And Irvine Comapny please put a nice bright crown on top of One America Plaza!! Swear to god it is completely dark on the top with just the little red light blinking, what a disgrace. OAP is the premier office tower downtown it deserves to be brightly lit on the crown, Irvine is a gigantic company worth tens of billions of dollars and they are so cheap they won't light a building right on DTSD waterfront :hell: |
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The announcers were also pretty negative about Qualcomm, how it was one of the two worst NFL stadiums, and discussed the possibility of the Chargers, Rams, or Raiders moving to LA after this season. Man, please let it be the Rams or Raiders! |
Kroenke (Rams Owner) is worth 11.5 billion his wife is WalMart heiress. He is the only guy with the financial wherewithal to buy land (he already has the 60 acres and going for more in Inglewood/Hollywood Park Race Track) he can afford to pay 1.3 billion to also build a stadium with private money. Spanos is a small fry compared to him and is too cheap, after all these years he still only trots out his paltry 200 million dollar contribution to a stadium here which is pathetic.
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