What's great about that video - other than the sweeping views of the skyline - is that it demonstrates the depth that San Diego's skyline has. The high rise portion of downtown stretches out over a pretty significant area, with plenty of opportunity to fill in and add density down the line.

Yeah I feel like a lot of skylines have taller buildings but a lot less depth.

Like they'll have a 700 footer next to like 6 buildings and that's their downtown

San Jose guy here and I'm jealous of your skyline.

SD Union Tribune has very detailed update on 7th / Market Ritz Whole Foods Project:

(Note the same lawsuit also is the reason 7th / Island is a surface lot )

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...718-story.html

Most depressing line from the article:

"Project developer Cisterra Development said it would normally be breaking ground right about now on the full-block hotel and housing complex were it not for the suit filed late last year. It is scheduled to go to trial this October." :shitstorm:

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I really hope they smooth out the concrete balconies from underneath, it looks like crap. Rest is nice though. Thx for pics.

Condor to drop San Diego nonstop to Frankfurt

Condor is dropping its Frankfurt to San Diego nonstop flight later this year. It was only supposed to be seasonal, but stopping after one season is somewhat unexpected. However, perhaps the fact that Lufthansa is now doing a 5x weekly non-seasonal flight is the reason. In which case, this could actually be good news for SD, as Lufthansa is a more serious airline that focuses more on business passengers rather than seasonal tourists. Hopefully these flights last longer. Lufthansa, British Airways, and JAL are great international airlines to have landing here.

The U-T reported this today, and quoted an airport official as saying they only found out about Condor's departure yesterday. But I found an article from June mentioning it:

http://www.fvw.com/airlines-condor-t...3/174567/11245

Not a big loss, Condor is essentially Lufthansa's low cost brand and they're still retaining service to FRA.

But I only fly on low budget airlines! :(

Happy Hump Day friends, here's some midweek news re: Mission Valley development to get you by. Article has lots of details:

http://missionvalleynews.com/develop...ission-valley/

Alexan
284 units
http://missionvalleynews.com/wp-cont...AIN-Alexan.jpg

Witt Mission Valley
267 units (design tba later this month)

Millenium Mission Valley
305 units
http://missionvalleynews.com/wp-cont...ley1webtop.jpg

Town & Country
804 units
http://missionvalleynews.com/wp-cont...wn-Country.jpg

Friar's Road
319 units
http://missionvalleynews.com/wp-cont...ion-Valley.jpg

Cerullo Legacy Int'l
Religious structure
http://missionvalleynews.com/wp-cont...acy-center.jpg

Great Mission Valley updates. That Town & Country looks good, those parking lots really need to go. Alexan is very attractive.

The NewSchool site in East Village is going to be redeveloped in the next five years or so. No idea yet what will replace it or where exactly the school will go; they want to keep it downtown.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...726-story.html

I've noticed that a couple of prerequisites for the 11th and Broadway appear to have occurred: The housing on 11th (between E Street and Broadway) appears to have been vacated, as it has been dark the past few times I've passed it. Also, the parking lot on 11th & Broadway appears to have been closed down. There were conspicuously no cars in it tonight.

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I noticed a crane go up on 6th ave in between E and F streets. Right next to the Andaz hotel. Anyone know whats going up there?

That is the Fairfield Inn by Marriott.
https://sandiego.urbdezine.com/2014/...own-san-diego/

I have a few questions as a non-resident:

1. Will the Navy air base on Coronado always be off the table? What about some sort of shared use? (I realize this is a massive and important base, just asking.)

2. What about landfill at the existing airport? In theory this could extend the existing runway west. Maybe a second shorter runway for small planes could be added to the south at the marina location, easing pressure on the main runway (guessing no potential for a major runway here due to added Downtown interference; and even the small one would have massive ecological impacts).

3. Is the 500' limit tiered or gradual, or just a flat limit? It should be very different at one end of Downtown vs. the other. Often these things work in geometric planes...a certain angle from the main flightpath.

That's a hell of a video BTW chris.

I'm sure others can and will chime in with specifics, but I'll answer very generally and say that this problem is more political than logistical. There's lots of options out there but SD is not a place that thinks outside of the box. There is also a hypersensitive military contingent that gets angry anytime anyone ever suggests THEY should have to relocate because of the changing needs of the city. They even get angry with joint use suggestions. As far as the height limit, it's staggered in the sense that areas right near the airport have lower height limits, but as far as the 500' downtown limit, it's my understanding that's blanket for all of downtown which doesn't make any sense considering the expansion out to East village of the high rises.

Not an option. The regional airport authority analyzed all of the military airports for shared use opportunities, and the DOD said no way.

California's environmental laws and coastal protections would prevent this. In the early 2000's, the regional airport authority drafted potential second runway options for SAN - needless to say, no one was happy, and the plans was dropped quickly.

It's mostly a flat limit, minus the very northwestern end of downtown in Little Italy where the planes rapidly descend into SAN. You could theoretically build 500' (above sea level) structures lining the 5 all around downtown, up against neighborhoods with 30' limits :haha:

Funny note on SAN. I had a friend who worked at the airport administration, and he told me they have a series of maps pinpointing the various fault lines that run around the airport. Apparently, there is one map of a fault line that literally stops right before the airport and continues on right after. When he asked about it, the senior staff just shrugged. Lolz.

The city had a chance to take Miramar NAS when the land was available about 20 years ago. The city crapped the bed and passed on the land. This was an epic blunder. As others have said, there have been studies since then that have recommended to locate the airport to Miramar, but there was strong resistance from the military and NIMBY's (an unlikely but powerful coalition). This is also a contentious issues on this board with lots of disagreement. Nothing will likely happen with the airport for decades as the airport continues to receive upgrades and there is still not enough political will yet for something to happen.

Other ideas for moving the airport have been floated...

1. Floating airport off the coast
2. "Twin-Ports" (airport straddling US/Mexico border; shared runways, 2 sets of terminals - US and Mexico)
3. Desert airport (Borrego area)
4. Camp Pendleton
5. Etc.

Besides the lost opportunity at Miramar, I really wish the "Twin Ports" airport with TIJ would have had more serious consideration. The site is reasonably close to DTSD, transit, freeway networks, inter-modal freight, and would create synergy with San Diego and Tijuana further increasing the route network of the airport. This is no longer an option because the land is no longer available. As it is, we ended up with the Cross Border Terminal, which opens up TIJ as a secondary international airport for travel to Mexico and a handful of other international destinations.

I'm sure everyone has a guess as to what will happen down the road. I believe that eventually (decades) either Miramar or Camp Pendleton will be the new airport site. Until then, SAN will continue to get upgrades to maximize what is there now.