i think Cosmo still has a good chance of going up, just later than expected (obviously)

Someone should drive by the Cosmo site to see if a temporary parking lot has been constructed there???

I think you can see it on the CCDC camera. I think it's a leveled dirt lot.

An affinity for architecture is why we're all here. :)

i went by it recently...its a big dirt lot...with a small public parking lot on the north side of the block

yeah, i saw the same thing the other day when i went by

anybody got more updates on 15th & Island?

I have heard through the grapevine that the "Stella" project in Old Town is about to go bad. The shoring has been half complete for 6 months and the site has sat idle for a while.

I am saying that the bosa building is a poor attempt a knocking off Richard Mieir's style. He is doing the Federal Courthouse. For some reason his buildings have a much cleaner look to them.

Bosa does his own construction....
and his own concrete...

Cool Building
 

I personally like the design because it'll contrast nicely with the Harbor Club towers. It's a pity, though, that the original KUSI tower did not make it; that would have provided an even more distinct contrast. Perhaps we can have both?

An example of a San Diego building that has aged gracefully is the Union Bank of California tower bounded by 5th/6th avenues and A/B streets. I believe it was built in the 1960s but, even in 2007, it still doesn't look out of place in San Diego.

oh ok...gotcha:)



speaking of the Courthouse...Emporis has it listed as "Under Construction":shrug:

i agree...thats one of my favorite buildings in SD

Not to be a naysayer but I can't believe that anyone thinks that another tower will break ground in the next 36 months (besides Bosa's).

Bosa has a competitive advantage because they act as their own General Contractor. All of the other towers are being built by Swinerton, Hensel Phelps, Ledcor, etc.

There are already a few thousand empty units in the pipeline (Legend, Saphire Tower, The Mark, Atria, VP, Breeza, ICON, Pacific Terrace). Who the hell is going to finance more towers? Corus/Freemont will be bankrupt soon and I don't see anyone else in the mix right now (unless the Arabs decide to ship some petro dollars back here).

^^^ I see your point. But lets bottom line the issue here. There is demand to live in downtown San Diego but simply not at the current price point. For example lots of the 28 through 40 year olds who regularly go "clubbing" downtown and live in PB or Mission Valley and pay 1600 to rent a 2 bedroom would love to live downtown.

But they simply can't afford it. So how much would developers of towers have to drop there prices to get these units sold. 20% 30%???

My point is tons of people are aching to live downtown but they simply can't pay the premium that it costs. I guess there just aren't enough people making good money in San Diego county to get these units sold? Average salaries and wages are just too low.

I live in downtown at Parkloft so I try to be as informed as possible. Even if you could get the land for free, the construction costs are exceeding $275 per sq. ft. to build a mid-rise. Therefore, a reasonably sized 1200-1500 sf unit would cost $330,000 to $412,000 to build without the land cost.

Now that credit is tightening, buyers will actually have to come up with $60,000 to $100,000 down to move here. Bad news for high-rise builders.

For what it's worth, Pointe of View is also doing its own construction on the Vantage Pointe project, as I understand it. Swinerton did some of the pre-construction work, but I don't believe that they are involved anymore.

Baseball analogy coming up....

Batter steps up to the plate
... digs lightly into the nice soft dirt of the batters box
... brings his bat back over his rigth should in a nice easy stance to wait for the pitchers move
... the pitch
... the effortless swing
... the baseball and bat make contact in the sweetspot
... line drive up up and up... and solidly over the childs sandlot and parent seating in center right field; homerun.
... the batter trots around the bases
... the fans applaud and can't help acknowledge the effort from an opposing player.
... The players team come out to congratulate the batter, although modestly because the visiting team was already up by 10 runs in the 2nd inning.

I'd suspect contruction costs are up because of demand. It's been driven up because it has been high for quite awhile. When demand subsides I'd suspect contruction costs to come down; raw materials, labor, etc. These will balance.

Well I appreciate your creativity but I'm just not seeing your point BM. Could you explain?