Thanks for posting the pics MagnumMike! Glad you enjoyed your visit :)

I'm with everyone else who thinks that Horton Plaza needs to be reinvented. For one, it's tenant mix needs to be updated to reflect downtown's growing residential population, while at the same time, retaining it's appeal to both tourists and locals.

The biggest issue with me is the the exterior of the mall. As it is now, everything faces inward, instead of towards the surrounding streets. I realize that when it was built over 20 years ago, downtown wasn't what it is today. I'm for blowing up the exterior and making more entrances into the mall from every street, as well as lining the exterior with shops and businesses.

Another area that needs to be addressed is the frontage along Horton Plaza Park. I'm liking the suggestions already made to turn it into something like Union Square in SF. A weekly farmers Market there would be cool, too.


I guess no one recalls that the latest proposal is for a Regent International http://www.regenthotels.com/reg/home/index.html to be built there. Like Mandarin, it's a pretty exclusive brand that originated in Asia.

I was able to find the article that was released early last year -



Posh Horton Hotel shoots for the stars: lots of room for a Downtown luxury property, some say.


The owner of a San Diego-based firm that plans to build a hotel touted as the first step in the upgrade and renovation of Westfield Horton Plaza says it will be Downtown's first "true" luxury lodging facility.

Michael Gallegos, the president and chief executive officer of La Jolla-based American Property Management, which owns and operates some 43 hotels nationwide, confirmed his company plans to spend $120 million to build a 350-room, 38-story property that will carry the Regent International Hotels brand. That tab includes only the price of building the hotel. The land would be leased from Horton Plaza.

Minneapolis-based Regent, which has eight hotels, includes one in Beverly Hills and the remainder abroad. At least six are under development in the United States and abroad. The company is owned by Carlson Hospitality Worldwide of Minneapolis.

"It will be the most extraordinary hotel Downtown San Diego has ever seen," Gallegos said.

Aiming for the Mobil 5-Star rating, arguably the highest and most stringent...

^Thanks for the info on the Regents! I totally agree with you about the multiple entrances and placing businesses on the street as well.

Regent Hotel
 

Excellent, a Regent downtown would be very nice. Both Mandarin-Oriental and Regent are much higher-end than Intercontinental. Hopefully this one will get off the ground one of these years!!!

Mandarin-Oriental has an existing location in SF and they are going to be building a very cool hotel-condo tower in LA's Grand Avenue project downtown, a multi-faceted project aimed at making downtown LA more of an urban core.

It sounds from earlier posts like the W is going into LJ Commons instead of Mandarin-Oriental, maybe they have decided not to join the SD market yet since they are building a lanmark hotel in LA?

Anyhow, I really do think a big 5-star chain would do well downtown because it will fill a market that is becoming increasingly needed downtown. Right now the US Grant seems to be the only ultra-high-end hotel that makes national 5 star rankings. It must really be something on the inside because I never thought the exterior was anything too special. I mean it is a cool historic building but I would not peg it as being downtown's best and most luxurious hotel from the outside, especially with the eyesore or 80s revival Horton Plaza facade across the street!!

http://www.regenthotels.com/reg/home/index.html

Am I seeing things or does this map have some kind of white mark where San Diego is?? Strange, maybe I am hallucinating

Look at their most recent project in Bangkok, the buildings look cool. They even have the sail-like tops but not in a hideous way :)

I think the mall should be re-built in a way that extends the surrounding streets through the property as pedestrian-only avenues (almost like Disneyland or CA Adventure), blurring the lines between the mall and downtown. As part of the reconstruction, shops and stores would be added around the "mall's" perimeter, and residential and commercial areas would be added to the upper floors (parking would be on the interior of each block).

^Like Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade.

That is strange. We should ask them about that!

FYI, there is a farmer's market at Horton Plaza each Thursday.

Random Project updates. . .

See 'em while they're hot! I'm too lazy to save them on my imageshack page.:)

Aria
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464597188.jpg

Vantage Pointe
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464597448.jpg

Smart Corner
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464599290.jpg

Hilton
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464597675.jpg

Legend
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464597745.jpg


Columbia Crane Cluster (Bayside Bosa, Sapphire, Breeza)
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464598182.jpg

Electra
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464598735.jpg

Random Shots

Ballpark Cluster
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464598518.jpg

Marina/Coronado Bridge
http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464598858.jpg

http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...1464599031.jpg

Thanks for those! :)


Brake Depot must die!

Soon enough...

Wow, Aria is looking really nice.

I'm also shocked by how fast Vantage Point is going up, considering it took forever just to build the freakin Parking Garage.

But my concern is with that Hilton...
Does no one else see this as the ugliest, boxiest tower that they could have possibly put on the bayfront? What are the nice parts of this tower?

I like the Hilton. I don't know why. It isn't the most exciting design ever, but it isn't boring or ugly in my opinion.

In my opinion, the ugliest tower in downtown, on the waterfront or not, is the Manchester Grand tower #1.... ; the first one built. Not the 2nd.

The 2nd ugliest is/are the Harbor Club towers.

The nicest looking tower to me... the Manchester Grands Tower #2... the one with the castle like roof. It is the west or north tower.

Here's an article from the SD Daily Transcript (May 31) regarding the proposal on Market St. Seems like a nice project, and if all goes well it could break ground within 18 months -


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...t%203/ev-2.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...t%203/ev-3.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...203/ev-4-1.jpg

Hahaha I actually have just the opposite oprinion. I like the first taller one, but hate the 2nd. The roof on the 2nd one just seems too big for the size, the first one looks decent at night

^^ Speaking of bad roofs! :yuck:

Yea, I agree. The 1st one DEFINITELY looks more pleasant at night.

And I actually don't feel that bad about the Harbor Club Towers, I think they look pretty unique...it's all just a matter of personal taste.

Yeah, I was a little disappointed by the close-up of this roof...i mean, I guess it is unique.. But i just kind of don't understand it...
I mean, is it glass, or what?

But it will look GREAT from the Ballpark!

I'm sure it's glass, but I'm praying that it's not the highly reflective type that you see in the Dallas skyline. Talk about 80's design......

I like the roof because it breaks free of that Vancouver-style flatness that's being repilcated all over our skyline.

BTW, what's the hell is a "police storefront" that they keep mentioning in this project?