Thank you for the photos of the El Cortez. While I'm sorry that there is so much litigation and contention surrounding the building, I'm thrilled that it was preserved and I'd prefer that another building not be built in the same lot. The building is truly a San Diego icon and its sightlines should be preserved wherever reasonably possible, in my opinion (which is probably the minority view).

You may be. I think it's gawd awful! :)

^I agree...it hurts to look at that building.

I don't know if any of you have heard this, but I've heard the term "San Diego architecture" thrown around lately. It was more or less in reference to green glass buildings with too many balconies. I don't want our city to get a rep like that.

looks pretty impressive
 

it's kinda old news but the picture is too cool
is it even real picture or photoshop enhanced?

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t/concrete.jpg

^That's a real picture. :jester:

I saw the pour for one of the BOSA towers. Very impressive operation.

It saids they used 258 truck, I wonder how many cement trucks a city like San Diego has total.

No, I actually really like it too.
It's not the typical "San Diego" architecture or the bluish-green glass w/ lots of balconies like someone said earlier, which is played out!

Here's a link (including map) to info on the Mid-coast Extension. Let's hope it will happen, eventually :fingerscrossed:
http://www.sandag.org/index.asp?proj...rojects.detail

I'm no fan of Grand Pacific Tower, either. I think it's hideous:yuck:

Really? Where? It's not necessarily a bad thing. It would only be bad if every new building going up looked similar to each other (see Vancouver). IMO, we're still a long way from looking like that, but we do need to be careful in the future.

Thank goodness for projects like 700 W. Broadway, Lane Field, and NBC to help break up the monotony. :yes:

I still have my fingers crossed for more Vancouver-style buildings. Bring 'em on!! That would be much better than some of the recent, CRAP proposals (like GPT)! :)

I can't get too excited about projects east of 12th (Park Ave). It would be financial Hari Kari to start a project in those fringe areas anytime in the next 24 months.

Has anyone noticed the lack of life at The Mark and the snails pace of completion for ALTA?

Stop being negative!:mad:

Yea, when i was coming home from the ballpark, I noticed that the Mark was almost completely dark! I think I saw like 5-10 lights on at the MOST. It definitelly seems dead there.

The Alta I think is moving along slowly, but i thought it wasn't supposed to be completed until summer or fall of '07. Alta looks much better at night, by the way.

That is a novel response from someone who names themself after a natural disaster.

Hurricane Hugo was a destructive Category 5 hurricane that struck Puerto Rico, St. Croix, South Carolina and North Carolina in September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season, killing 82 people. It also left 56,000 homeless. The storm caused $10 billion (1989 USD, $13.6 billion (2005 USD) in damages, making it at the time the most damaging hurricane ever recorded, surpassing Hurricane Frederic.

[QUOTE=bushman61988;2919724]Yea, when i was coming home from the ballpark, I noticed that the Mark was almost completely dark! I think I saw like 5-10 lights on at the MOST. It definitelly seems dead there.

So, The Mark has closed on 75+ Units in the first month and a half. The top 6 floors and many other units have not been released yet. They are expecting to release these and release unsold units at a substantial higher value than the original prices in about a month. The top Pentouse is 3000+ square feet with 2500 more square feet of deck space...

Question for those of you in SD. Last time I was down there (last year), I was pleasantly surprised by how much condo development was happening in the downtown/gaslamp area. I think its really changing the city for the better and I only wish that we'd have the same rate of development up here in SF.

However, it makes me wonder how people in SD can afford to buy those units. I lived down there for a while, graduated from UCSD, and decided to leave for the lack of job opportunities there. I saw few corporate headquarters there and those jobs that were available paid far less than I see up here in SF.

Now, we have the affordability problem here in the bay area as well, but I think the demand for these types of units up here will continue to be strong, due to the large number of high paying jobs (high tech, consulting, I-banking, venture capital, etc), in addition to the traditional high paying professional positions (doctor, lawyer, business owner) and the old money.

In SD, the only people I can afford these types of units are those with the old money and the traditional high paying professional positions. Unless these units are filled with Hong Kong speculators (like in Vancouver), I don't see the market continuing to support itself down there, given the rapid growth development rate. Thoughts?

I can imagine a good chunk is maybe people from Arizona for weekend getaways and the like but others probably have real data. That Rincon building up in SF looks nice, is that the only development of its kind up there?

That particular development will have another tower (50 stories), which should start construction late this year (we hope). The surrounding area should have 10-12 towers of 40+ stories and if the transbay terminal project gets off the ground, we can expect several more towers, but it just seems like things here move at a snail's pace, due to all the red tape.

.....

"People from Arizona" pay less than $350,00 average for their new homes in the Phoenix area. I doubt that they are buying second homes in downtown San Diego for $400,00 to $500,000 for "weekend getaways".

The glut of condos in downtown is a direct result of the homebuilders reacting to false demand fueled by speculation due to cheap money.

The publically traded homebuilders have written off $3.3 billion in bad land transactions over the past year.

The replacement costs to build a new highrise should be about $600 per sq. ft. so that should limit the prices for resales on the downside and curb future supply until the current projects are absorbed.