That's cool and everything, but they should really be expanding it into more heavily urbanized areas...

I think it's great! Hope to see some rapid buses heading to the Beach and La Jolla from some of these stops too.

I still want a street car system circling Balboa Park. I want to hop on it and head to Hill Crest, North Park and back to the Centre City.

What's a streetcar cost these days? Definitely cheaper than full blown light rail, and I've seen induction powered trains that are wireless (catenary-less?). Just saying, streetcars dont have real station infrastructure so it would be sweet to have a line from Balboa through the university area, hillcrest and perhaps west to washington street.

Im in far fetched dreaming mode, that would be a great corridor as far as businesses and destinations and dense residential go when you think about it, go up from the trolley at washington (don't know how it would handle the grade), up the hill through hillcrest, do a loop around the park using 6th and park boulevard, maybe tie into smart corner while the top end of the loop is closed by university for a few blocks and then uses park boulevard to get onto el cajon boulevard and makes its way out to sdsu to close it out so it ties into the trolley at 3 points. Just a dream. On second thought, since I am dreaming, underground it all. ;)

You guys make too much sense for this city!

Why isn't the City Council looking into some eminent domain action to try to get the 7 acre site adjacent to Petco Park back from JMI?

I haven't read the agreement between the City and JMI but I would hope that there is a timeframe for something to get built on it in a reasonable period. I remember that JMI was required to construct a certain number of hotel rooms as part of the deal. I don't think that the Solamar fulfilled the requirement.

The city should try to get a partner to buy the site while values are depressed.

Moores got a huge windfall with his sale of the Padres. For him to be able to sit on that site and do nothing while no longer owning the Padres is a crime.

Of course there is no demand for any new construction right now but they City should start the process. Use the pretend Charger Stadium on the WonderBread Building site as the reason.

Thats a great idea Dweller, I'm sure you have some connections why don't you float the idea to your insiders and email the city council?

You might be thinking of the streetcars that are in Boredaux, France.

• Video Link

Owner plans to fashion a face-lift at luxury mall
 

http://media.signonsandiego.com/img/...34634cbc5420f3
Fashion Valley is about to get a bit more fashionable.

For the first time in more than a decade, San Diego County’s premier luxury shopping center is upgrading its exterior and common areas. The $15 million renovation is scheduled to begin July 1 and will take 14 months to complete.

Unlike the mall’s last renovation, which began in 1997 and added a second floor, this makeover is strictly cosmetic. The changes will include a new color scheme, improved lighting, updated landscaping and more lounge areas with comfortable seating, such as outdoor sofas.

Fountains are planned for the plazas outside Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s and the floors on both levels will be replaced with stone and paver tiles. Columns throughout the mall will be tiled with stone.

“We are going to touch every inch of the property,” said David Johnson, regional vice president for Simon Property Group, the mall’s operator.

The food court also will be gussied up, with a new roof and skylights as well as new seating. Also, the 81,000-square-foot space occupied by Saks Fifth Avenue will be redeveloped and used by specialty stores. Saks said this month that it will leave the mall by mid-June.

The potential new tenants for the Saks space have not been announced. A new Disney Store is scheduled to open this fall on the second floor near Tiffany & Co.

Johnson said the renovation is critical to maintaining Fashion Valley’s reputation for ritzy retailers. Fashion Valley aggressively added high-end stores such as Hermès, CH Carolina Herrera, Henri Bendel and Kate Spade.

“It has not been touched for many years,” he said of Fashion Valley. “It’s time to refresh the center and really mirror the luxury shopping experience it offers.”

George Whalin, president of Retail Management Consultants in Carlsbad, agreed that the mall “was looking a little rough around the edges.” Plus, he said, a new look typically draws in shoppers.

“It just makes sense because you’ve got to make people want to come back,” Whalin said.

One of the key components will be the addition and expansion of comfortable seating areas — a hot trend in mall development.

Johnson called those areas “living- room vignettes” that give people places to relax with the goal to make Fashion Valley not just a destination for shopping but a destination in itself.

“We really want to enhance it and make it a garden in the city,” Johnson said.

Whalin said malls are focusing on comfort for a simple reason.

“The goal is to keep you there longer,” he said. “The theory is the longer you stay, the more you will spend.”.

Jesse Tron, a spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said malls try to keep current by renovating their properties every 10 to 12 years. As the economy soured, fewer mall operators and developers built new spaces and instead focused on renovating their properties — if they could pay for it.

“Some redevelopment has been put on hold because of lack of credit,” Tron said.

Tron explained the standard industry cost for a mall renovation is about $40 per square foot. Fashion Valley has about 290,000 square feet of common area in addition to the Saks space it needs to reconfigure.

Johnson said the renovations will start in the food court and continue throughout the second floor. The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. will be the general contractor and the project will require an estimated 15 local subcontractors and 225 workers.

Suzanne Mulvee, a real estate strategist for CoStar’s Property and Portfolio Research group, said Fashion Valley’s upgrades make strategic sense.

While the retail market was pummeled during the recession, it has rebounded in recent months. Mulvee said overall retail sales are up 7 percent and the luxury retail market, which Fashion Valley specializes in, has seen its same-store sales jump by 12 percent.

“These improvements mean they are in a position to take advantage of rising lease rates, which we expect to see in 2011 and 2012,” she said.

New Charger Stadium Rendering:
http://www.10news.com/2010/0519/23608472_640X480.jpg

http://www.10news.com/news/23608654/detail.html#

Git Er Done.

Fashion Valley ~ Yay! Maybe we can get a fossil in there, finally.

Chargers Stadium ~ Looks cool, if they can get that navy to aqua seat color scheme to look just as good as it does in the rendering...beautiful. I just want to see more details.

Imagine if they finally built ballpark village inbetween the two stadiums, now that would be fantastic. Can they even move forward with BPV? Or has there been a fault line discovered there?

Oh, and I just noticed, but the stadium kind of looks like it was designed by an architect from Sea World. :)

San Diego, sticken to its roots!

Seats should be powder blue!

This.



But I actually like the rendering. I'll be patiently waiting for more.

^^ Not too shabby!! It might be time to start feeling proud to live here again! hahaha

And I like how it looks like a mini Q. :)

I think it would be cool if they could somehow work in some retail (fan shops, restaurants, etc) into the exterior of the stadium so that it would be "alive" even when games aren't being played. Doing so might also ensure its street-front isn't nearly as imposing as some stadiums'.

Those glass walls look sweet and I like how the seats look. Notice how there is no scoreboard/jumbotron on the endzones so there can be views into downtown and the bay. Pretty cool. Parking has me wondering though.

scratch the idea of incorporating retail and restaurants into the stadium and let all that sort of activity bleed over in the city grid that rounds the stadium. The city planning commission needs to split up those superblocks into smaller quarter size blocks with retail, nightlife, restaurants and housing (particularly on the north and southern sides of the stadium) include many small scale pedestrian only streets that people exiting the stadium can funnel into and spend money with fantastic view corridors to the entrances and other focal points of the stadium. The East and West sides of the stadium (neighboring blocks) need to have taller hotels and housing to smooth out the height of the stadium and further incorporate it into the smaller scale east village. Parking? Are you serious? Kiss all parking goodbye.

I also would hope that the field is sunken into the ground a bit and the street wall along K street would be low enough to allow random people on the streets could see some of the action, I would love to see street festivals on there every sunday and away games projected on a double facing (inside and out) jumbotron.

I think that in order for this to be successful an agreement with the developers needs to be struck that demands that the previous JMI BallPark Village to be built out and the neighboring blocks surrounding this proposed charger stadium.

I would love to see other study models HOK had done to arrive at this design. Is there better out there?

not bad. not bad at all.