The NEV Plan has been going on for quite awhile. I really do think that this time around the people on both sides (more park vs more development) are talking at the same table and not just shooting ideas out from their hips. I mean in this stalled economy nothing is going to be built commercially anyways. So while there is a lull, development projects along the corridor can take a step back, redesign and come out better for everyone. That's kind of whats been happening...if you read the article posted in this very thread before...

The convention center corporation just selected the finalists for the design of the expansion...I know this project is moving forward...again, you should read your local newspapers, they are quite useful.

San Diego has three things: Weather, Beaches and Balboa. If one of the city's biggest philanthropic individuals (Jacobs) is heading a committee to revitalize Balboa, id bet my money on their being actual progress. They may end up charging for parking at the new structure, but it will be a lot better then having a car filled plaza when Balboa turns 100. Making light of Balboa's 100 year anniversary is a big mistake on your part, I don't think anyone with civic pride would question the significance of this event (which is still 5 years away, which equals plenty of time to get this done).

I don't know when "last time" was for you, but the mid-coast expansion has been in development for a long time. And its a good thing it has taken awhile, as it passed with flying colors through the community organizations that would have otherwise rejected a rushed proposal. MTS did the right thing in engaging neighbors along the line and offering multiple options for those groups to choose the best from. This train will be running by 2015 for sure, its too profitable (come one, UCSD to Downtown, and UTC... three major urban centers connected...) for them not to move forward.

Chula Vista won't get the money from anywhere, its a private development, which is why I said that this project would take a while. It's not up to the city to pay for the majority of this, its up to the markets (ie DEMAND, as I stated before, you should read (not skim) what I post). So, again, this will be built in the next boom cycle. 10 years more then likely.

That's Hollywood's problem, not San Diego's. The port wouldn't have initiated the project, wasted its reserves, and the people of the bay's time if they hadn't thought this was viable. I'm not saying that this will be built tomorrow, but it's going to get done. Plus it's a civic project, and with little else going on commercially, the port has to focus on other things...like civic projects...

I'm really not an optimist at all. The civic center project is dead. The chargers will leave when the stadium deal is not approved by voters. Their won't be a new airport built in San Diego until Miramar closes. But their is a difference between being a realist (me) and an outright pessimist (you).

You are always saying something negative about this city. This isn't the first time I've had to knock you down from your lowly pedestal. San Diego has problems, but if you actually researched these projects (like in newspapers, those things that are available everywhere and free online even!) you would see that things are not so grim.

As for MLS, I've done enough typing, can one of the soccer enthusiasts here explain to onemetro about San Diego's history of hosting international soccer events, having high attendance, being a finalist city to host in the next world cup if the US gets the event, the pull of Mexican fans, blah-blah, yada-yada...

Goodnight everyone. :whip:

Or, high speed rail to downtown.

One thing I have said before, HSR will link LA to SF in the first phased effort. When that happens, LA and SF and the places in between that are connected, will have an advantage for offering something to potential employers and visitors. That IS attractive.

San Diego... instead of trying to accelerate HSR to San Diego, has chosen to push it back to the periphery of downtown, thereby minimize its utility and attraction to downtown.

Possibly, though I can't imagine hearing a company say "we're relocating to Dallas from San Diego because we couldn't find an easier way to get to LA."

OK you got me. I am just a wanabe novice who knows nothing. Please forgive me!!!!!!!!!!!!:gaah:

Looks like you know your stuff so kudos to yeah.:yes: :tup:

I somtetimes like to make up scenarios and have you guys fill in the blanks for me.:D

Forgiven. :)

That would be hilarious though. :haha:

Port to consider tweaks to North Embarcadero plan
 

Fresh from a round of four public workshops, the San Diego Unified Port District’s staff and consultants will lay out some options to the port board Tuesday on how to add more open space to the $28 million first phase of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan.

Spokesman Ron Powell said the seven port board members will hear much the same presentation as given last month to almost 300 members of the public.

The meeting, including public comment, is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the port headquarters, 3165 Pacific Highway.

The $28 million first phase of the plan is in play because the California Coastal Commission failed to approve the improvements planned between Broadway Pier and B Street Pier last spring.

Critics complained that an oval park at the foot of Broadway had been eliminated when the port moved forward on a new cruise ship terminal on the pier.

To gain more open space as the coastal commission staff had recommended, the port’s consultants have presented a variety of options -- fewer trees and more hardscape, fountains, grass, or a further narrowing of Harbor Drive than is currently planned.

With the board’s preferences in hand, consultants plan to present refined options at a second round of public meetings late this month or in early October. The board then would consider final recommendations, probably at its Nov. 2 meeting.

“What our fondest hope would be is we would come up with a plan that our opponents say is a good plan and that way, they won’t appeal” to the coastal commission, Powell said. If there is an appeal, that commission would likely take it up early next year.

If approved then, construction could start late next year and be completed in 2013, officials said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...arcadero-plan/

New downtown courthouse to be safer, bigger
 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...-safer-bigger/

Faster schedule saved $500 million
By Roger Showley, UNION-TRIBUNE

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 4:36 p.m.

http://media.signonsandiego.com/img/...c82dae770b93ac

The new $634 million downtown courthouse planned by the state won't open for another six years, but it's sure to be a safer place than the present county courthouse, officials said Wednesday at a meeting to review the project's environmental impact

"We really are very excited about this project," said Clifford Ham, the principal architect for the Administrative Office of the Courts, who addressed a small gathering Wednesday at Horton Plaza shopping center.

Ham said the old building is riddled with asbestos and poses serious problems for security and safety.

In the new building, planned north of the Hall of Justice and west of the old 1960s courthouse complex at Broadway and Front Street, defendants will be transported from the Central Jail through tunnels to courtrooms in the new building. Today, they are routed along bridges linking buildings and along corridors shared with jurors and the public.

There will be more space for all court functions -- twice as much as in the old building --- but it will be more efficient, Ham said. One example is the provision of just one front door versus four on the buildings that currently hold Superior Court facilities that will be located in the new building.

The building, planned for up to 750,000 square feet and 20 stories, will be located on the block bounded by B,C, Union and State streets, known as the "Stahlman block" (site of the King Stahlman Bail Bonds office).

At one time it was budgeted at $1.1 billion, but it has been reduced by $500 million by speeding up the schedule and reducing inflation adjustments through a property transfer agreement by the County of San Diego, which owned the old courthouse. Funding is coming from a $5 billion bond measure backed by higher court fines and charges.

The state assumed responsibility for the Superior Court under 2002 legislation, but will continue to lease civil Superior Court rooms in the Hall of Justice when the new building opens in mid-2016.

Few questions arose at Wednesday's meeting. Public comments are due Sept. 22 with the final EIR, including state responses to questions, expected next month and adoption in November.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the San Francisco architectural firm hired to design the courthouse, is scheduled to prepare preliminary plans in 2011 and working drawings in 2012. Construction would then proceed in late-2013.

One unknown is the fate of the old courthouse, built in phases on three blocks stretching from Broadway to A street in the 1960s.

Ham said the budget does not include demolition costs, projected in the millions.

The current plan is to mothball the complex until a developer is selected to demolish the property and build a new office building, hotel or other structures there.

The old county jail, now housing federal detainees, mostly on immigration violations, also would close.

"It could be decades and it could be sooner," said Ham when asked how long it will take for redevelopment to occur.

County Supervisor Greg Cox, who attended the meeting having followed the project for many years, said it might make sense for the Centre City Development Corp., the city's downtown redevelopment arm, to front the money for demolition and operate a surface parking lot until a developer is selected. No general parking is planned in the new building -- just as there is no public parking at existing locations.

Ham said under legislation that imposed new fines and fees to cover the cost of this and other state courthouse projects did not allow for the new buildings to be used for expansion.

Thus the 71 courtrooms in the new building will include only one more than are currently in the old courthouse and three satellite locations. As growth occurs over the next 50 years and more courtrooms are needed, he said, the new building could be reconfigured or technology might make it unnecessary to add more space.

"A generation or two from now is a very long time," Ham said.

^^Well that's something to look forward too.

SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2
 

I have visited many sky touching buildings in San Diego. I am also resident of San Diego. In this thread i could not find a single building belonging to San Diego. Can you show me Fly Tower here. I have no pics of Fly Tower.

Best Regards
jack

^^Uhhhh...

onemetro, wanna get that? haha.

so here's a good reason why we're building that multi-million dollar pedestrian bridge over Harbor Blvd. (lookout! @ 0.55)
• Video Link

Wow! Those fans are ridiculous! I can't believe they were going under the train.

I would but I don't know what a Fly tower is.

I am gonna ASSUME IT WAS MY OLD PROFILE PIC.

http://www.hotspot.nl/weblog/images/oneplaza.jpg

Those folks have no exuse. They are risking their lives for something so relatively cheap.

But, they are not as bad as the 4 who decided to take a nap on Metrolink tracks this morning in Orange County! Three died!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,5840774.story

great idea to take nap on train tracks...

:(

^ I'm sure the Darwin Award nomination committee is all over this.

I just fowarded this video to a few people at the Federal Railroad Administration. At the very least, San Diego law enforcement needs to ticket these people who are risking their lives.

That was ridiculous! People and their ideas of whats worth their lives...

Waterfront Marriott to undergo $200 million revamp
 

One of San Diego’s largest waterfront hotels, the San Diego Marriott, is planning a $200 million renovation that comes with an added bonus for the public: a 32-foot-wide promenade that will give pedestrians a direct connection to the harbor.

While periodic remodels are standard practice for hotels seeking to refresh their brand, the Marriott Hotel and Marina’s mammoth project is far more ambitious, focused in part on boosting convention and meeting business that is a key driver of the hotel’s revenues.

Planned is a $97 million expansion of ballroom space that will replace the hotel’s 23,000-square-foot Marriott Hall with a state-of-the-art, 40,000-square-foot ballroom and a 40,000-square-foot exhibit hall, which general manager Ray Warren said will meet growing demands in the meeting industry for added space for vendors and sophisticated audiovisual presentations.

“For large in-house groups, their needs for space have changed dramatically in the last 10 years,” said Warren. “For their general sessions, they need a huge amount of space for all the technology to put on these major presentations. The second issue is that these corporate groups and small associations, in order to subsidize their meetings, want to do exhibits with vendors who they charge to put a booth in.”

Because the Marriott leases land from the San Diego Port District, its walkway and exhibit hall reconstruction will require approval from Port Commissioners in October following a 30-day comment period for the public.

The new walkway, which will be bordered by palm trees and other landscaping, will give pedestrians on Harbor Drive not only easy access to the water but also a clear view now blocked by a parking lot, cooling towers and trees, says the port. It will complement an already existing pathway installed several years ago by the adjacent Manchester Grand Hyatt.

“Visually, if you walk down Harbor, you don’t know how to get to the water,” said Penny Maus, asset manager for the Port District. “But now you’ll have this beautiful, wide pedestrian promenade that will provide you with views of the marina, port parks and the bay.”

The 1,362-room Marriott already has completed renovation of its guestrooms in one of its two towers and expects to finish the $41 million redo of the north tower by next April. Also planned is a $4.2 million makeover of the lobby and front entrance and a $7.7 million redo of the pool area, which will include two new waterfalls, Jacuzzi, pool bar and restaurant and new lighting and sound system.

The revamped Marriott, says Warren, is supposed to reflect a "cool, coastal Californian" look. The redone rooms, which will all have flat-screen televisions, modernized bathrooms with walk-in showers and new carpeting and bedding, will have a color scheme of blues, corals, golds and greens.

Warren said the overall $200 million investment is the most that the hotel’s owner, Host Hotels and Resorts, has ever spent on one of its properties.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...illion-renova/

http://media.signonsandiego.com/img/...c82dae770b93ac