Driving to work this morning, I saw a backhoe starting what looked like a demo of the old building on the northeast corner of 7th and A. Might be the start of this condo tower:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...dential-tower/

^That would be awesome for that area. Looks like its supposed to be completed in 2017. Some additional height near the 5 would look cool since it has been difficult to get height there with the airport. It appears that there is an 18 story building also scheduled to go in on the same block. Might help to spur more activity in that area.

http://cdn.sandiegouniontrib.com/img...15c2d8bc4ecd52

http://cdn.sandiegouniontrib.com/img...8561935b88c24b

Signs of movement for the 7th and Market site?

http://civicsd.com/images/stories/do..._-_7.13.16.pdf

What's going up at 12th and park?

Pleasantly surprised the Port didn't screw this one up (yet at least):

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...obs-san-diego/

I'm getting really annoyed by those vertical cylindrical concrete supports you see now... makes the building look cheap.

Ugh. I'm going to guess a "thrill ride" probably isn't going to play well with public opinion of what ends up there.

True, and there's time to tweak things, but overall this proposal
is by far the best one. At least the "thrill ride" looks somewhat unique and isn't another Ferris wheel

Any word on the ritz/whole food project? I saw it was on the agenda yesterday for civic sd, but not sure what they were discussing. I thought it already cleared there and needed to go before the city council for final approval??

I actually thought the new sports arena project was the better deal for the city. It seemed ok for impact of the land and besides replacing the old out dated arena it would help much with comic con and other possible events that could use it. I guess I'm tired of driving my GF up to LA for all the concerts that pass us by too.

Also the story on the local news did seem to suggest there were some pretty strong doubts on when and how (finance) they are going to build it which the article mentioned only slightly. The city should set a very tight timeline for whoever builds so we aren't talking about seaport village projects in 2025.

Finally I'm really tired of the amount of "proposed" towers for tourists to peer out of on our bay. These seem to come up semi regularly. I'm not a fan of the one in Vegas and don't really care to waste valuable land for a tourist gimmick.

The last news on that project I saw was back in December 2015 when the City Council agreed to negotiate a deal with the developer. Crickets since although the Whole Foods people are saying they will be in SD downtown in the future so ???

I think I agree with you on this point. If the observation tower were iconic or tall, I'd be more okay with it. But it's no more special than other towers like in the one in San Antonio or Calgary or Knoxville.

It would be the shortest one I can think of. It's shorter than the Hyatt and One America Plaza, and not much taller than Sea World's observation tower. I'd rather they put their money into making the high rise something truly iconic. Let BIG go crazy and design us something interesting like their pyramid project in NY:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1717/...61a1882a_o.jpg

http://www.sandiegostreets.com/wp-co...dering_001.jpg


High-Rise Proposed for 520 W. Ash in Little Italy
http://www.sandiegostreets.com/2015/...-little-italy/

San Diego's dream trolley line extension getting closer to reality
 

San Diego's dream trolley line extension getting closer to reality

By Joshua Stewart
LA Times
July 14, 2016

"A new trolley line for San Diego is getting closer to realty.

The California Coastal Commission has approved a permit for the planned Mid-Coast Trolley, a mark of progress that follows action in Washington that is expected to provide funds to pay for a new tracks and stations between Old Town and University Town Center.

Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to give the San Diego Association of Governments approval to build the new line, which will roll through 3.5 miles of designated coastal zone. The 11-mile project to extend the existing Blue Line includes nine new stations and will link the county’s two largest job regions..."

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...nap-story.html

Good grief, I thought thi was already under construction.

I thought this article was going to be about a train line to North Park, SAN international, or even the beaches.

Me too!!!!!! Holy shit stuff in this town takes literally decades to get off the ground. I was just talking about this extension with people at work last week (I work in the UCSD area) and we all thought this was a done deal and under construction, so it's not just you, clearly previous reports on this made it seem like it was already broken ground. Maybe it'll be done by the time I'm 89 and I can get my cane and waddle onto it marveling at how convenient it would have been before retirement when I lived downtown and worked near UCSD :(

By the way, no line to North Park, SAN or the beaches for likely the next 30 years at a minimum. SANDAG removed their line to balboa park/north park from their 30 year plan and put in a line from the border through Chula Vista to Kearney Mesa in. My guess, it's because SANDAG is composed of mayors from all over SD county so they needed the votes of people like the CV mayor to do this.

This article discusses this new line, and if you look at SANDAG's 2035 goals, this is the ONLY trolley line proposed (except for the UCSD extension). So no beaches, no balboa park/center city lines and no airport line anymore are even on their long-range radar

http://timesofsandiego.com/politics/...-trolley-line/

1934 Aerial view of San Diego

https://i.imgur.com/OuHjY4e.png

This on a more refined tower may be an awesome addition:
https://youtu.be/Ly4QP7pOfCs

Unbelievable LA is building light rail lines like crazy and now our one line that seems to have been planned forever is now not going to be finished until 2021. First it was 2018, then 19 now 21 wow :rolleyes: I seriously have pretty much given up on San Diego ever implementing any of decent transit on a large scale. Unless you happen to work downtown which is rare, it isn't really a big job hub at all especially for white collar, and live along the new rapid bus route or in a super expensive apt in Mission Valley you are pretty much screwed.

Regarding those towers in Bankers hill glad one is finally a go, I remember hearing about those years ago and being excited because towers up on the hill make the Skyline look more dense and give it a bit of the San Francisco feel. I hope the other project gets going soon along with the Calif Theatre and the other big tower on Ash/or A. That part of downtown really needs more height and it will make a huge impact on the skyline.

I'm not sure why anyone is upset about the trolley utc construction. The article states that construction will start this year as has been expected all along as its timeline. It's hardly running massively behind schedule or anything considering how all these type of projects move along. It's coming and it's going to be really cool for the system.

Long term plans for transportation are usually pretty loose and not set in stone one way or another so I wouldn't get to hung up on them.