I haven't driven by there recently, but I can only imagine that it has to do with the expansion of the Illumina HQ near there:

http://www.biospace.com/News/illumin...pansion/356710

I thought that the crane was for more of the same apartments that are already down in that ditch but I could be wrong.

Naming the line is a good idea and an easy revenue source. The stations should keep their original names though.

I think Horton Plaza is a sleeping giant. It's a massive complex that is not going anywhere and there are so many 3rd rate stores in that mall right now. That 'book store' on the 3rd floor has been selling the same inventory and running without AC for almost 3 years now. :(

Westfield is pouring $500M into UTC and I could see a similar, if not greater, investment into Horton in about 5-8 years if residential numbers continue to grow. Imagine if they replaced the walls on Nordstrom with glass like in Union Square. Same for Macy's. The view is much different now than when the mall was built.

That said, I don't think a Best Buy or Target should be the goal. My concern is you would get another Ralphs rather than an Albertsons, which has residential above.

I always thought a Macy's Home or Williams-Sonoma would be a much better fit. It's amazing how difficult it is to find any products for the home in downtown.

There are two cranes. I think Streamliner is correct, the second crane is for the Illumina expansion at the corner of Nobel and Judicial.

Regarding retail, I imagine World Market will be looking for a new lease somewhere downtown once they get kicked out of 4th and J.

Yeah, I'm not sure if part of the issue is there isn't enough people downtown yet to support those types of businesses but it certainly is a pain in the ass to have drive out of the city for some of your most basic shopping needs. Before the city can even approach the shopping experience seen in other cities they need to get the basics covered. Having a mall is cool for sure but you need the rest to go with it.

Good news for these two projects today.



http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...-east-village/


I'm really crossing my fingers for that Ritz Carlton project to stay as stated and get built. It would fill in that area very nicely.

I have read many times that the idea for Horton Plaza (at least as of a few years ago) is to turn the mall inside out. The issue as I understand is that the mall was built to keep people insulated from the surrounding areas, which I understand were quite bad, when the mall was built. Nowadays, people want to walk around the city and not be bound inside the mall. So the mall must open outward to provide street frontage to it's retail tenants.

I believe that we will continue to see the addition of retail downtown (which is slowly happening), but that a redesigned outward facing Horton Plaza will be the catalyst to turn the immediate area into a real shopping district. I believe 5 years from now, things will look very different, especially with the addition of major new projects along Market street.

I get it. Gladly drive to the Target at Sports Arena to avoid having another big box with a parking lot in the core...but I get it.

Now if San Diego could do a project similar to the Metropolitan somewhere in the EV...that would be awesome.

I remember getting excited a few years ago when they got the CVS in. Lol. I was happy to see it there even if it was a mini version of their regularly sized stores.


I have malls around me in my neck of the woods (La Jolla or Carlsbad) but even if I lived close to one of them to shop every day they simply don't contain a lot of the day to day stuff I want from a retailer.

Horton Plaza is good for some stuff even though it is more of a trip with parking,walking,etc. than you expect from running into a normal shopping center like we are used to.

My issue is that beyond it or the CVS my friends downtown are regularly driving out of town to the Costco or Walmart or Target or Best Buy or Bed,Bath and Beyond or whatever because they don't exist in downtown.

I remember people in the past saying downtown needed to try and get some of the larger companies to move downtown but unless you start making the normal day to day stuff easier for people you're going to have get people to be willing to spend a fair amount of their time driving out of town to go places that are usually clustered around most cities we have in the north county.


I'm currently splitting my time in Cardiff and Solana Beach but after a week in downtown I felt like I was living on a island in some respects with my time there.


Hopefully one of those mentioned above tries the downtown market soon because as much as I love Whole Foods I'd have rather seen one of them mentioned in a new project instead. Downtown is fine with grocery stores and restaurants, thank you.

Notes from article on Market Projects: 12th/Market will have 51k sq. feet of office space but it looks like it is off to the side so won't really contribute to added height of the structure due to higher floor plates for office space. (Developer said it won't be finished till 2020 Booo)

Why does everything take so long here? How about Terminal 1 demo and rebuild did you guys see they have chosen a plan but it won't begin until 2020!!! WTF

Good to see more Biotech space getting added but now its time to get Qualcomm back to the table and rolling on their 1.2 million square foot expansion. MTS Busyard would be so sweet for that, or Navy Broadway Complex.

Terminal one has been in the news a lot lately. Here's the latest:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...l-replacement/



From that article here's a timeline.



The staff has yet to set out a schedule for implementation of whatever plan is eventually approved.

The board is tentatively scheduled to review a financing plan in September and approve the preferred alternative in October.
An environmental impact report would be delivered in the spring of 2017.
Preliminary design work would be required before seeking approval from the Coastal Commission, a process that could take several months if not a year or more.
Final working drawings and financing would follow before construction on the first phase could commence.
Chairman Gleason said it would be difficult to break ground on the terminal before 2020.




One of the sticking points right now is this: $$$$

It'll get built when they figure out the cost and payment plan.

Curious what everyone's opinions are on EIRs. Are these killing our economy? Are EIRs necessary tools? Or is the truth somewhere in between?

At a glance, we have a few major projects currently held up by the EIR process...NFL stadium, Rebuilt Airport T1, I-5 expansion, etc. These are just a few major public projects that I can think of at the moment.

Should we eliminate EIRs for public and possibly private projects?

I remember reading the same thing, I think it is on Westfield's radar to turn Horton "inside out" which is desperately needed. It's like a big ugly fortress. I think SD's downtown is too new, but I wonder if we will see the concept of districts emerge. Things like arts districts, design districts, fashion districts, etc. I think little Italy is an emerging design and arts district where you find some home-type stores as well as art galleries. The good thing about Horton is that it has a concentration of what I would describe as primarily apparel type retailers, if these retailers could remain in the same area but be accessible from the street as opposed to an internal mall it would really transform the area and the "restaurant district" of the gaslamp could intermingle with the retail. More people might be inclined to shop either befor or after lunch or dinner if it all seemed more cohesive. Another thing I've noticed is that outside of Horton I see a number of local mostly female clothing boutiques. I'm not sure how well they do downtown as they are in random areas, but if the chain retail at Horton was turned "inside out" then perhaps some of the local stores could set up shop nearby and benefit from the foot traffic.

I really like the idea Dale mentioned about using glass similar to SF's Union Square for the larger dept stores like Nordstrom and Macy's. It would look great from inside and outside the stores.

You and me both. This is, in my opinion, the most important project in San Diego's pipeline currently, and I'm really hoping it moves forward in reasonable time.

http://i1027.photobucket.com/albums/...psajygfwzk.jpg

http://i1027.photobucket.com/albums/...pshyjxhyz1.jpg

http://i1027.photobucket.com/albums/...psirwunksv.jpg

This is Park and C new construction. A neighbor in the building told me he spoke to a city inspector and the work is being held up because they have archaeologists investigating the site now. Apparently they found something. Additionally, they did not expect to find the concrete under the old parking lot.
Has anyone heard anything about this?

I think its somewhere in between. There was a good intention with this law but there seems to be too many holes and it has allowed people like Briggs to make a living challenging projects that really have no significant environmental impact.
We all know that replacing the Q with a different stadium should be a no brainer. But instead the city is spending 2.1 million dollars to hurry this along and in the end Briggs will probably sue because the funding plan is inadequate. Meanwhile in Carson, 8,000 plus signatures and a few nobody politicians can legally exempt the whole process?
I would support scrapping the law and coming up with something that actually makes sense.

Thanks for the update. I live nearby and was wondering what the holdup was. I know archaeological findings are to be taken very, very seriously (felony if not halted). The developer must be pissed.

I don't know any authoritative info either. But from the archaeological interest standpoint, the concrete under the former Gen Lai Sen parking lot must pre-date 1953. In checking http://www.historicaerials.com/, I don't see anything matching that location in any of the aerials, and they date back to 1953 at that location.

If you're not familiar with that website, I recommend taking a look. If you enjoy taking "Google vacations" on Google maps, you'll probably enjoy this site, too.

TBH, unless you're walking, it's easier to go out of downtown to get stuff due to parking. Both of the CVS stores are a pain to park at.

IDK. Going to Jimbo's with the reserved parking in the ramp is pretty easy. I would say easier than Mission Valley.

I would hope a Costco never makes it downtown. A warehouse store really shouldn't be downtown. As for Walmart/Target/Best Buy, which are somewhere between a grocery store and warehouse, it's difficult in an urban space. It can work but the density has to be to a point where San Diego is not close to being.

I think a Bed, Bath and Beyond is something that could go into the mall.

Day to day stuff is 12 rolls of toilet paper not 48. You can get that at the two grocery stores. It might be cheaper at a Target but that's the price you pay to live downtown.

It's a give and take I think. Do you have 100s of places to eat and drink in those locations with access to all of the other things downtown offers?




Condos v. houses. Very different lifestyle and storage is an issue. Even if most people would like to buy in bulk, there simply is no room for storage for it in most places. Even the high end larger condos. It's not like there is a freezer in the garage or a room for home essentials. The cost per sq foot for that type of storage can't justify the savings in buying bulk for almost all items.