Originally Posted by bmfarley (Post 2940415)

:previous: In no uncertain terms do I like parking in a tower that is above grade. All of it should be below grade with ground level retail or commercail with accessible areas for the public. With ground level parkign in a tower I can just hear the sucking noise....sssssssssssssssssssssucking hte energy out of the area.

Originally Posted by spoonman

I believe that this Marriott proposal will be a good barometer in terms of how the "ballpark village" will develop. If the design for the Marriott is sprawling like the Hilton, we'll know that the city has given up on the ballpark village master plan. If the project looks dense and like a piece of a puzzle, I think we'll be ok.

Originally Posted by sandiegodweller (Post 2940602)

3 years after land was taken, it's being used as parking lot
By Jeanette Steele
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

June 24, 2007

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO – Construction costs are skyrocketing, a court fight is dragging along, and three years after a Gaslamp Quarter cigar shop was condemned to make way for a hotel, the site is being used as a parking lot.


EDUARDO CONTRERAS / Union-Tribune
The Gran Havana cigar shop on J Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues was condemned to make way for a hotel, but the site is a parking lot today.
Now the developer of a proposed Marriott Renaissance is asking San Diego's downtown redevelopment agency for another extension.

Under the current agreement, excavation of the site should have started in January and the hotel should be completed by September 2008. The company now proposes to bring in the backhoes in May and finish the hotel in July 2010.

The Centre City Development Corp. will consider the request at a meeting Wednesday. The downtown redevelopment agency, which took the Gran Havana cigar shop in a controversial decision in 2004, has been unhappy about the delay.

Shop owner Ahmad Mesdaq's appeal of the eminent domain action still is pending in court. So is the agency's appeal of a judge and jury's $9.1 million award to Mesdaq. Oral arguments in both cases start July 17.

The developer blames the delay on that litigation and the chilling effect of Proposition 90, the failed 2006 ballot measure that might have limited the city's condemnation powers.

Now the developer, GRH LLC, wants to lease the whole project to an Anaheim-based company, Hansji Hotels, that is building a hotel across the street. GRH wants help with spiraling project costs, which went from $70 million in April 2004 to $108 million today.
“We are all committed to proceeding with the project as expeditiously as possible,” said Cynthia Eldred, attorney for GRH, which is managed by Ramin Samimi of San Diego.

Samimi's firm wants a nearly two-year extension on the construction timeline dictated by the downtown agency. It would be the second extension, agency officials said.

Mesdaq calls these requests unfair.

“It's just a very sad fact when a government entity takes property for a private developer so he can flip it and make a big sum of money,” he said.

Mesdaq, 36, said he tried reopening his cigar shop in September 2006 at another Gaslamp Quarter address, but business never came around and he closed in January.

Mesdaq, a Scripps Ranch resident, said he plans to use his settlement money to open another business in the Gaslamp.

Eldred disputed that this is a case of “flipping” a project, as GRH would maintain ownership of the land while Hansji Hotels would build and operate the hotel.

She also said the proposed lease doesn't allow her client to cash in. Under the deal with Hansji, she said, GRH takes a hit on expected earnings both now and in the future.

The company already has spent $23 million on the project.

The site is on J Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Mesdaq owned 5,000 square feet of the 40,000-square-foot parcel that is slated to become a four-star Marriott Renaissance hotel with 334 rooms.

GRH originally wanted to build the hotel on a different downtown site that it owned, but that land was condemned for what became Petco Park.

Mesdaq bought his property in 2000 and, combined with renovations he had made, sunk about $2.5 million into the former warehouse, turning the site into a showcase.

The city long has maintained that Mesdaq knew the hotel proposal was coming when he purchased the land. He says he didn't learn of it until he was in escrow.

Mesdaq refused offers to sell and went to court to stop the condemnation. He argued that taking his land and handing it to a private party did not amount to a “public use.”

In recent years, governments have used eminent domain powers for “economic development,” arguing that the tax revenue and jobs that private developers bring ultimately benefit the public. City redevelopment officials argued that the hotel would provide much-needed property and hotel-room tax revenue and hotel rooms to serve the Convention Center.

The cigar shop was demolished. The land is being used now as a pay parking lot, with the revenue going to the developer and the downtown agency.

Originally Posted by mongoXZ (Post 2941138)

Another Marriott in downtown? That plus the proposal for the Nickelodeon/Marriott resort near the airport and it seems like these guys have a hard-on for San Diego!

I'm kind of dreading the idea that the proposed Marriott will resemble the mega hotels on Harbor: Tacky, no consideration for the urbanity on its streets, large parking garages. I'm hoping that's not the case.

Originally Posted by spoonman (Post 2940660)

I believe that this Marriott proposal will be a good barometer in terms of how the "ballpark village" will develop. If the design for the Marriott is sprawling like the Hilton, we'll know that the city has given up on the ballpark village master plan. If the project looks dense and like a piece of a puzzle, I think we'll be ok.

Originally Posted by SDCAL (Post 2941802)

Chula Vists's loss is dissapointing, but look at it this way - - the addition of a convention center there was being touted as possible competition for SD's convention center. Maybe developers will invest more into attracting and maybe expanding (if there is any room???) our downtown convention center since it's obvious the surrounding cities are unable to lure investment. Even though our CC seems large, it is still not big enough to hold mega-sized conventions that would probably go to LA

Originally Posted by SDCAL (Post 2941812)

ABOUT UNIONS

Our conservative-slanting media is making the pullout from Chula Vista of the project seem like the fault of the Unions, that is simply not ture. San Diego's union force is minute compared to other cities such as Chicago, yet mega-projects have no problem getting off the gound there.
THIS IS SOLELY THE FAULT OF THE LOCAL CHULA VISTA GOVERNMENT, STARTING WITH THE MAYOR
If these government officials had ANY skill at all and were doing their job, they would have mediated and arrange compromise between the union and developer. This is common practice in all big cities, and they failed. It is really sad that our red-neck nazi media outlets slant the stories to put the entire failure on the unions, and none on the localgovernment

Originally Posted by mello (Post 2942941)

Here is an idea I know locals and environmentals will go ape shit over but here it is: Fiesta Island -- Hotel, luxury condos, Chargers Stadium, and possible arena if there is room. You get Gaylord and Spanos and maybe Ernie Hahn and his cronies to invest. Build a huge freeway offramp from I-5 directly into Fiesta Island.

What do you guys think. Centrally located, views, beaches, parks etc?? Might work... But would be HUGE NIMBY fight lol!