I have a little optomism that it will not be delayed that much. There was no structural damage and it appears 90% of the damage was to the exterior facde panelling. That panelling is manufactured off-side and put into pace. Perhaps the developer can have the affected panels redone elesewhere and fit into place.

I just read that "suspense file" means there is a slight chance the bill could be brought up again, but it most likely won't be considered again this legislative session, so I'm afraid it is stalled

there is some type of activity at the cosmo square construction site. It doesn't look like any preps for constructing, but they are doing something with lots of wooden pallate looking things and signs are up reading "Morely Construction"

anybody know whats happening there?????

Go ask them for us. :D

The Voice of San Diego paints a picture that City Attorney Mike Acquire was allegedly trying to blackmail Mayor Sanders.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/artic...road052008.txt

Through an aid. the City Attorney's Office wanted to retain 17 employee positions and tried to get their way by hanging a Sunroad Pressure Dimmer Switch over Sander's head.

The State Attorney General has cleared Sander's of any wrong doing. Nothing is said of Mike Acquire.

On the subject of ugly buildings... Just went by UTC for the first time in what seems like a few months today. How about those newer Costa Verde towers that went up in the last year (or two?). They look like the belong in the middle of an Indian reservation. Not even worthy of Vegas.

it was just one that went up last year, the other two have been there for years

but yeah, they're ugly

and damn just found out about the hilton explosion

although it doesn't seem to have caused damage to the superstructure so i don't think it'll delay it by much

Redevelopment agency critical of hotel design

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO – The design of what would be the West Coast's largest hotel is getting slammed by downtown San Diego's redevelopment agency.
Centre City Development Corp. Chairman Fred Maas described the proposed Marriott hotel as a “fortress” at a recent meeting.

“These folks want their customers to leave this hotel about as much as the state of California wants their customers to leave San Quentin,” Maas said, referring to the state prison.

In response, Marriott's lawyer in San Diego said the company will work with the downtown agency on the design.

“This is a major project, and we are very proud of it and want to be proud of it when it's completed,” attorney Lynne Heidel said.

Maas is not the only critic at the redevelopment agency. The agency's architecture consultant said the proposed 1,929-room Ballpark Village Marriott would be “crammed” onto a tight city block “with almost no regard to the surrounding neighborhood.”

The consultant, Santa Monica architect Gwynne Pugh, also said the base of the building “offers no redeeming design features for the district.”

At its heart, the consultant's gripe is that the design of the hotel, which will attract roughly 240,000 guests a year, does little to connect its visitors with the shops and cafes of downtown San Diego. An elevator would shoot guests up to the fifth floor for check-in, which would perhaps keep them cloistered in Marriott restaurants and stores.

That's not ideal for tourist-dependent San Diego, which wants an exciting urban district downtown.
The hotel is expected to eventually supply $18 million in yearly hotel taxes to the city. The project also would mean $7 million a year in new redevelopment taxes for downtown.

JMI Realty, the real estate company of Padres owner John Moores, is pursuing the permits for the hotel on behalf of Marriott Corp. The hotel company's chairman, Bill Marriott, has been personally involved in the design.

Marriott will need special permission to get what it wants, as it is proposing to make the building bigger and bulkier than allowed in the city-approved 2005 master plan for the five blocks in the JMI-owned Ballpark Village zone just east of Petco Park.

The downtown agency is particularly concerned about two aspects of the plan.

The hotel's walls would shoot straight up 150 to 190 feet from the street, instead of the up to 90 feet allowed in the original plan. The potential problem: Tall, sheer walls can make a building seem unwelcoming to pedestrians, the agency says.

Marriott also wants to make the building more bulky at the base before the two 500-foot towers start.

Another potential problem is the hotel might block views of the Coronado Bridge for people entering downtown on 10th Avenue and from the reading room of the proposed new main library at Park Boulevard and K Street, the agency says. The downtown agency plans to use simulations to evaluate that.

While Marriott isn't requesting a public subsidy, San Diego taxpayers do have something invested in this project. A recently approved $26.8 million public pedestrian bridge over Harbor Drive will end at the hotel's doorstep and give guests easy access between Petco Park and the Convention Center.

Gary Smith, president of the San Diego Downtown Residents Group, suggests that if Marriott wants to bulk up its hotel, perhaps it should be asked to kick in for the pedestrian bridge or another public amenity downtown. Moores' company already is covering $4.9 million of the bridge cost.

“There should be some trade-offs,” Smith said. “They are asking for more benefits. We ought to get something in return.”

As the disgusting Marriott renderings illustrate what is SD's problem with doing anything creative with a high-rise? Why does everything need to look like it was built just to make a quick buck instead of looking like it was a well-thought out iconic piece of architecture that looks like it was designed by people who care about the local community instead of how to maximize their value by skimping on design and style.
People would not put up with this crap in world-class cities like New York, Chicago or San Francisco because the public demands more.
I am glad to see the CCDC does have at least SOME scruples when it comes to evaluating projects instead of just being a rubber-stamp.

Another example of a more creative project gone sour is the Kettner and Ash project by Bosa. Bosa is apparently more concerned with building a bunch of harbor-front towers that all look alike instead of injecting any creativity into them. I liked the first renderings, but the new ones make it look like a clone of all their other mediocre buildings:

NEW RENDERING:
http://www.ccdc.com/images/propertyI...1for%20web.jpg

OLD RENDERINGS:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...lternative.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...lternative.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...tnernight2.jpg

It's as if someone is reviewing these saying, "THIS IS SAN DIEGO, MAKE YOUR PLANS MORE CONSERVATIVE AND BLAHHH"

Kettner and West has not gone sour. He still intends to build it but I think in 2010. After the housing market comes back. That may seem like a long time but the Gehry Grand Avenue project in DTLA has been pushed to that date, As has another large residential project to 2009. And we are sitting pretty well compared to downtown la, which is truly a mess. Was there for work on Bunker hill in a law office, and you could see the people who had just gotten off the subway walking up tons of flights of steps. (the city purposely had sought to isolate bunker hill from the more minority and historic parts of downtown). At least Sd has a coherent, diverse, and accessible downtown.

:deadthread:

Any word on the status of 880 West Broadway (formerly 700 West Broadway)? For a building that is supposed to open in 2010 (from what I remember, correct me if I'm wrong), I haven't heard much since the project was announced around this time last year.

So what's the beef on SD politics, who is more pro Downtown development
 

So I heard a commercial that showed Steve Francis talking about the need to get the developer out of City Hall, but on Papa Doug's website, he endorses Francis for mayor. I figure that that has something to do with getting his Navy Pier Complex built. I don't know what to think.

Can someone weigh in on which mayor (in their opinion) will bring bigger, faster change to downtown and in which way?

PLEASE, I am really curious about this, and voting is Tuesday.

When the fuck are we voting?

Best thing for SD is to vote for anyone but Aguirre!!!

Why? So we can go back to having everything done behind closed doors?

Aguirre gets a bad wrap, look at the city attorneys who existed before him, they were worse. Whos his nearest competition? Some old retired Republican superior court judge? Way worse

I'm voting for Aguirre

Any guy who, as city attorney, advocated for the evacuation of the whole city of San Diego to Yuma, AZ as a result of the October 2007 Firestorm will definitely not get my vote. I always found it so interesting that we didn't see his face during the week of, and the week immediately after, the Firestorm. There are a number of other issues I won't get into for the sake of argument that will lead me to vote against Mike Aguirre.

Before we get into a heated political debate, can anyone tell me what work is going on the top of One America Plaza? There was some scaffolding and black tarps surrounding the top of the pinnacle and now it seems like the top is shinier, for lack of a better term.

I'm still up in the air on who I'm going to vote for. I moved here 5 months ago and barely know the politics of this city.

I agree. He's a joke.

Yea, I TOtally notice this! I was wondering if I was crazy and that black lining was always on the tower, bcuz at first I thought that was just some new lighting or new addition to the top, but now that I think of it, maybe it is some type of scaffolding or something to improve the top of probably our best tower...