If that doesn't get built, it will be a sad day for San Diego, and the state of CA. :(

Those buildings should be taller and thinner IMO

Well I feel that the mid size developements compliments and gives off a more tranquil allure to the water front area.

That looks like it would be the densest group of buildings ever built in San Diego.... which makes it seem unlikely it would ever happen.

Critics appeal OK for port's Embarcadero plan
 

Four appeals have been filed against the $28 million first phase of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan, the California Coastal Commission staff reported Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Diana Lilly said the appeals came from two members of the public, Scott Andrews and Katheryn Rhodes, and two commissioners, Vice Chairwoman and Oceanside City Councilwoman Esther Sanchez and Mary K. Schallenberger of Clements in the San Joaquin Valley.

San Diego Unified Port spokesman Ron Powell said appeals were expected but the port hopes the commission will rule in favor of the project.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...al-commission/

Bridge
 

Anybody know how far behind they are on the bridge? The grand opening was supposed to be in January. Here are some pics from today:

You can see the bayside half of the bridge doesn't have the protective net or restraint installed yet.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/...ea0e75b1_z.jpg

They're obviously still working on the landscaping and laying the concrete.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/...300035f8_z.jpg

I am guessing grass is going to go in here.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5258/...8cffe24d_b.jpg

Some more of the walkway/sidewalk going in.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/...cd366c4a_z.jpg

Bonus picture - This is what the wind did to a wall of that totally useless lot next to One America Plaza where once upon a time had a planned Two America Plaza.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/...a28c150f_z.jpg

What projects are going up at 16th and Broadway and 15th and Imperial/Commercial?

^ I think the City College is adding a building at 16th and Broadway. They're also developing another one on Park (and E/F?). Imperial/Commercial sounds like Father Joe's.

Www.tinyurl.com/20110111a

After 5 years the Port is still missing 1,542 parking spaces and the required fault investigation. The seismic issues could be taken care of in one 8 hour day.

Project proposal for across the street from the Q in LIttle Italy. What do you guys think?

http://www.ccdc.com/images/stories/I..._Staff_Rpt.pdf

I think it looks fantastic, aethetically. Initial observatiosn and thoughts:

- Origionally, I believe something much larger was planned here. As I recall, it would have resembled the current development to the immediate south.

- I thought CCDC had a development criteria that required three (3) levels of underground development (for parking) before the first above grade floor could be permitted. The intent, as I recall, was to influence developers to consider projects that penned out financially better, which meant taller buildings and more denssity.

- Any thought on High Speed Rail coming down the Trolley and freight corridor? Would HSR impact this development. It might be aerial at this location??? Or, below grade.

Not tall enough.

Its decent 7 out of 10. I really like the super modern looking development that just finished about a year ago better then this. I would like to see some more Australian looking kind of architecture here in SD.

Have you guys seen some of the stuff that has been built in Melbourne, Gold Coast, and Brisbane lately? Really glassy, big balconies and just more imaginative then this faux Mediterranean stuff we seem to always have built here in San Diego. Lets push the envelope a bit on our 5 floor condo/apartment buildings.

I don't care about the architecture I just want it tall enough to scrape the bottom of airliners!

For the area I think it would fit in perfectly. I hope there's absolutely zero stucco on it though. It's a bit sterile (to me) architecturally but I'm happy with the density (again for the area) and I like that the massing is broken up so that it doesn't look like a giant block.

Eh. Its alright.

If you don't like faux Mediterranean, then you're going to have to leave southern California because that's the majority of disrespectful architecture that's built here. Italians and Spaniards would be ashamed to call most of our buildings here in Southern California home. And somehow, we are supposed to be emulating their architecture. Well, I can't stand our crap here and it is unbelievably distasteful. Rome, Barcelona and Marseille wouldn't allow 99% of our architects to work in their cities. That's fact.

http://media.signonsandiego.com/img/...c82dae770b93ac

These buildings do look very stumpy, but you must take what you can get in San Diego. The city isn't built up enough to the point where the citizens can force the city to build taller buildings even throughout its downtown. S.D. is far from reaching that point. I don't care how visionary the politicians are. It would take an incredible effort to get most central downtown plots of land to consistently build 20 to 40+ story towers.

I've seen the central parts of DTSD. It can get eerily quiet on most city blocks and there's no way around that problem. It would take another 2 real estate construction booms and another 20 to 40 towers in the central part of DTSD to get a real downtown medium/high energy bustling feel.

Even downtown S.F. often lacks that energy, and S.F. laws are to blame for that problem. It is incredibly difficult to develop high rises in S.F. and so you end up with a downtown and a city that lack the energy that only the addition of 50 to 100 20+ story residential towers in the central parts could create.

You want energy and activity, then you need hundreds and thousands of people stacked on top of one another in a concentrated area and there's no other way around that. S.D. has grown leaps and bounds in that area over the past 10 years. Now, it will be interesting to see if S.D. takes more steps to becoming a serious downtown in this decade leading up to 2020.

^^^ I agree with you but I'm not sure why that rendering has been circulating on this page of the thread. That is an old rendering. I've seen a couple of others that are more recent that look nothing like that. That one is like a drawing not even computer generated. It is a rough sketch from a couple of years ago.

I've seen other ones with more tall thin towers.

And Tommaso you are right, I just came from living in Crown Heights Brooklyn for 2 years and the only way to get that lively energy is to have massive density for sq. mile after sq. mile. I've noticed that downtown SD is still very quiet for how "built up" it now seems. I'm guessing that many of the new condo towers and 5 to 7 floor buildings near Petco and just east of it are not at full vacancy.

Another huge problem is the empty retail spaces at the bottom of all the new residential buildings. I was walking by the park just outside of center field at Petco and my god all of the ground floor spaces in those new squat buildings are empty. Commercial real estate signs everywhere! It was like an empty Disney Land, all these nice shiny modern or reused old structures with empty bottoms and 2nd floors :( And many of these buildings have been finished for a couple of years.

U-uh?
Are you kidding me? :koko:
Have you ever lived in Italy?
Wel, I'm italian and I lived close to Rome, and your unbelievable statement makes me thinking that you've never been there, 'cause the current state of architecture in Rome and Italy is terrible :yuck:
I know that the grass is always greener on the other side, but I assure you that the urban standards of San Diego are BY FAR higher than any italian city.
Believe it or not, outside Rome's historical district (just the 4% of the entire municipality) this is what you find...

http://media.getrix.it/2/86/854468.jpg

http://www.pediconimagagnini.com/ima...e%20roma/2.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_r2C3TPymbf...Image00002.jpg

http://www.archabout.com/img/vigna_m..._Murata4_z.jpg

http://software.immobilclick.it/foto...to1_215720.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_V3HNMBpMmX...1600/kant1.jpg

or this...

http://maps.google.it/maps?hl=it&biw...-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Believe it or not, these pics represent the 90% of Rome... I would trade this crap for the worst faux Mediterranean in San Diego.