When is the last time you visited a library?
 

I am not against the new library but I am curious what the point is of a new, fancy library. Especially in San Diego. There is no real American History here, and no old money families to fund it like back east (Carnegie, Rockefeller, Mellon, etc.). It seems pretty 19th century to me. I don't see it being used very much.

San Diego barely supports the local museums. San Diego has Balboa Park and it's numerous museums. I don't see attendance booming up there.

Do you realize that since the Seattle Central Library was built that it is now the third highest visited tourist attraction (behind Pike's Market and Space Needle). Granted, I've been saying that they need to coup their losses and do a complete redesign (the cost is hovering at an astronomical $500 per SF), and contract the job as a Lump-Sum Design Build, placing all risk / reward on the General Contractor.

I appreciate all the advice. Whatever I buy I plan to own for a while - 5 years minimum. What makes me so leary of buying right now is that this property came up the 1st day I started my search and I am being pressured into buying it and I feel like I am settling. Supposedly only 5 units left in the building. Plus I have never seen the unit or any unit in that building.

Seems like the sound thing for me to do is wait till the Legend starts to close and keep an eye on other units that might become available.

The gamble is that everything will go up in price and I will have to pay 100K more for something similar to what I can get right now. I am hoping the prices stay comparable or even go down so I can get something better at the same price.

Do you think that will happen? I have not been in the market for a Condo when a building is about to finished with everything pre-sold. I have to think that many of the owners are going to be prospectors and they will try to flip their units.

A couple weeks ago, Mark was on an online chat on the Union-Tribune site, and I asked this question to him, about partnering with Gaylord if that fell through. Don't remember his exact answer, but basically it was a "if Gaylord became available to talk to, we'd like to talk to them" type deal. Don't know when the next chat is scheduled where he'll be on, but I'd love to find out more from him, whether this is really something that could be pursued.

I'd love Fiesta Island to be the site, there's enough room for a football stadium and basketball arena, and with the trend away from huge open parking lots, you could easily fit just enough garages for season ticket holders, etc and the rest is offsite parking, maybe the existing Sports Arena site becomes the satellite parking area for the stadium with a new direct trolley/tram between the two to shuttle fans.

It would be cool if we could get non-stop service to Europe once again. It sucked when British Airways pulled out of Lindbergh 5 years ago due to low demand. Selfishly, I'd rather see Lufthansa here because they partner with United Airlines (my primary mileage plan) ;)



Does anyone know what ever happened to Phillippine Airlines' plan to come here?



Philippine Airlines To Order Boeing 777-300ERs

Nov 20, 2006

By Steven Lott/Aviation Daily

Philippine Airlines as early as this week plans to order at least six Boeing 777-300ERs, The DAILY has learned, as part of its long-haul fleet expansion; PAL plans to use the new aircraft to boost service to the U.S. West Coast.

The carrier in September said it was evaluating bids to order five aircraft for the regional widebody fleet and three for long-haul operations (DAILY, Sept. 5). President Jaime Bautista said PAL evaluated the 777 and the Airbus A340-600 but decided that the two-engine 777 was more efficient and burned less fuel than the four-engine A340. He told The DAILY in Osaka on the sidelines of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines annual meeting that a deal has been signed with Boeing and an announcement is planned this week.

The deal includes a firm order for two 777-300ERs and options for another two aircraft. PAL also will take two more 777s through a lease deal. The purchased planes will be delivered in 2009, and the leased aircraft will arrive in 2010. The options are available for delivery starting in 2011.

Two-Class Product

The carrier is working to determine the final number of seats for the aircraft, but Bautista confirmed that the airline will have a two-class product. PAL's long-haul operations currently have three classes, but the airline decided to remove first class from its long-haul fleet and introduce a new lie-flat "cocoon" seat, he said. The new product also will have an upgraded inflight entertainment system.

The airline has eight A330s and four A340s in service, along with five Boeing 747s. Bautista said the airline has no immediate plans to drop any of the aircraft until the new 777s start arriving in 2009. He said the carrier is considering the 787 for additional growth, although a decision will not come for several years.

The 777s will likely be used to expand service to North America, Bautista said. He wants to add more frequencies to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver. In terms of new markets, PAL is evaluating nonstop service to Seattle and flights to San Diego. It now flies four days a week from Manila to Las Vegas with a stop in Vancouver. If it can win regulatory approval, it would operate the other three weekly frequencies to San Diego via Vancouver.

Another priority is to boost its presence in China and India. The carrier wants to offer more frequencies to Beijing and Xiamen and will likely add flights to India thanks to a new bilateral agreement. Under the agreement, PAL would be able to add flights to seven Indian destinations.

PAL is working to keep its costs under control to offset high fuel prices, and Bautista predicts the airline's profits will be on par with the high results of last year. For the year ending March 31, PAL's profit was $28.7 million, the airline's most profitable year in more than a decade. The current-year results will be close to that amount or may dip slightly, depending on fuel prices, he said, adding that traffic should rise about 5% this year.

Libraries aren't just about books these days. It's a big gathering place for people, ie, meetings, research, kid's field trips, etc. I went to the one in Vancouver and it was packed with people. Folks were sitting on the front step hanging out - it was really cool. It would definitely add life to the East Village. I go to our downtown library every so often and it stinks. Build it and they will come ;)


Not true. Check out the the attendance figures so far this year http://www.sandiego.org/downloads/11...PR07VISCAL.pdf

Museum and art events are up 25% over last year. Both The Dead Sea Scroll exhibit and Bodies: The Exhibition, will make those numbers go up even further.

Yeah, we love our beaches, but we support cultural things, as well. :tup:


I believe it's in the Downtown Info Center where the mini-model is. Make sure you take pictures of the renderings if you can or at least draw sketches like they do in courtroom trials. ;)

I just check the CCDC agenda for the meeting today and it's so damn depressing to see yet 3 new proposed towers (2 Marriott towers - please, no twin towers and Monaco) maxing out at the 500' MSL limit :(

In addition to those, there's 700 W. Broaday, Library, Mondrian, Shapery Park Tower, among others, that are all at the 500' max. Can you imagine what our skyline could look like if no height limit existed?

I visit the city library frequently for my school work, as well as Balboa Park. I like that kind of stuff.:)

Philippine Airlines and Lufthansa? That would be something! :tup:

The formal design review of the project is an actual meeting of a committee; which is not on the 1st floor of the NBC building. it's on the 7th or 11th. Likely the 7th. that's where CCDC's offices are located, as well as their makeshift Board Room. If you've never been to one, they are easy to attend. Just go in and find a seat.

Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to infiltrate the CCDC's meeting and take pictures of the renderings of the new proposals. You can not fail us, as failure would mean waiting a whole day before we get to see them. Good luck.
Self-destructing...NOW!

:jester:

That's what they did for the new Courthouse and no one bid because the budget was unrealistic.

I'm sorry...i kinda failed. I went to the damn Review. it was actually pretty interesting, but damn, at some parts it could be so BORING. I felt super uncomfortable there, too...like I didnt' belong and everyone was staring at me...maybe cuz im a younger minority:sly:
...But for reals though, I felt like i wasnt suppose to take pictures, and i got there kind of late and i was in the back of the room lookin sideways at the projections...AND i had to leave after 1 1/2 hour. SORRY!!

But on the bright side of that, ALL the renderings they showed of the Marriott Hotels were just simple, kind of conceptual, and most of them were renderings from the Ballpark Masterplan that many of us had already seen. I didnt get to hear the comments from the committee, but they had initally complained b/c some of the project blocked views from the future (?) Library dome reading room.

At least they are still talking about it.:yes:

Off the wall comments.
 

[QUOTE=bmfarley;2943297]Don't be suckered in. The market IS falling and likely will for the next 12 to 24 months!!! Count on it. Whn Legend units fall to about $375 per sq ft... on the 10th floor.... that's probably the time to start thinking of jumping in. Add $5 per sqft per additional floor, or -$5 for lower floor.


Comments like these seem to indicate that we must be close to a bottom in the downtown market.

Aperture has sold 25% of their building in less than 2 months. The lowest prices are in the $500+/per ft. price. The building has no ammenities and not many premium views. They have a solid building (concrete&steel) and a Little Italy location. Traffic at the sales center is brisk. I guess you could offer them $375 a foot and get laughed at.

The Acqua Vista is not a premium building as it was built as an apartment building and has lots of problems. Even at that, the better units are bringing around $500/ft. Why would anyone want a poor unit even if it was cheaper?

The Grande is not in Little Italy, it is in Columbia. I doesnt have the benefit of the strong Association and ammenities of Little Italy.

Alot of the units that are being discussed are wood construction and are not as costly to build as concrete/ steel. Nor are they even close to as nice. Keep that in mind when comparing.

When I see a 10th floor Legend unit for $375 a foot, I will be looking for Jesus return.

Welcome laguna!

In the future, don't feel uncomfortable. It's everyones else's problem if they have an issue. But, staff and regulars do kinda note when a new face is in the crowd... wondering if they are going to speak during any of the public comment periods for the action items. But that is all they are doing. Other than that, students always attend, assuming you look like one.

I just pulled this from Online CPI. Looks like we don't have to sweat Library Tower anymore :)

http://www.onlinecpi.org/article.php?list=type&type=246

"The Marriott Convention Hotel at Ballpark Village is a proposed 1,650 room hotel with 175,000 SF of meeting space. The proposed project is located overlooking the ballpark on a 3.34 acres site bounded by 11th Avenue on the east, Park Boulevard on the west, lmperial Avenue on the north and rail yards on the south.There will be a 110' high podium which contains the convention functions and its related support spaces, and two 500'-tall guest room towers (total 41 stories). The western tower may have up to 100 condominiums.

This 2.3 million square foot project is expected to cost $650 million. The development size includes part of the 1.2 million square foot floor are transferred from the ballpark in the Ballpark Villages Master Plan."

I am confused by several pieces of logic here. First, I didn't realize that the same people who go to libraries are the same exact people who go to museums in Balboa Park?? What Balboa Park's attendance rates have to do with library projections?? I'm also not sure what American History has to do with it, many new cities out west have built new libraries successfully, including Seattle as someone pointed out.

I get the feeling the point of your statement is that San Diego is not cultured enough to value or utilize a new library even though that's not exactly what you said, I apologize if I missed your point

Every time I have been to the library it's packed, and a library is not just a place to check out books, it gives people who can't afford a computer or internet cafes the ability to get online. Libraries, including ours, are also used as spaces for many public and civic events (look at their website, there is always something going on). I admit I don't go very often, but that doesn't mean there aren't people who go more regularly.

Most importantly, the DT library is the central hub for SD countys entire library system, including the computerized card catalogue and central computing system. By the standards of ANY city of our size, the central library is an out-dated piece of crap that needs to be replaced now (the building is hostoric, so I would favor keeping that or incorporating it into a neew development, but the library itself should move)

This eerily sounds like Manchester Hyatt. My nightmares are coming true.:sly: