I really like the idea of a moving walkway (or possibly train) under the runway. A moving walkway means no waiting for trains. This assumes the engineering challenges could be overcome with moderate cost. People will be far more likely to utilize transit to the airport if there are fewer connections. I’m not sure the length of the longest moving walkways, but Atlanta and PHX are pretty darn long.

PS: The gondola is embarrassing and is not serious infrastructure. Another SD half-measure.

The fact the gondola idea is still being floated is ridiculous. It would make our city a joke. Gondolas are fine for people who want to take in the sights, but using that as transit to get to the airport? San Diegans are resistant to taking common forms of mass transit, who thinks they will hop on a gondola to go to the airport.

I think the most logical proposal is the Old Town grand central station with a connector to the airport. That idea seems the best not just for the airport, but for our entire transit system as a whole

The pictures won’t load :(

JMI Finally moving forward on PetCo Adjacent Lot
 

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...319-story.html

So their last mega project allegedly got killed by the recession and now they wait another 11 years right before another recession is about to hit to propose a giant project.... Uh where were you in 2013, 14, 15 etc... :shrug:

Here is list of big projects which one will slide in to home plate under the catchers mitt of the recession that is looming:

7th/Market: This one seems safe should basically have financing ready now. Will be killed if market tanks in next month or two.

California Theatre: New redesign should appease the historians, they seem genuine and really want to get it done. Can approvals and financing come in time?

Alexan Little Italy: Want to break ground in late 2019, will economy hold until then?

Park Broadway, The giant pit that was the chinese restaurant (forgot exact name), Other tower near vangage pointe proposed by LLC, -- Are these really serious developers or just speculators?

JMI Mega Project: Too far from permits to make it in time for this cycle?

BOSA Semi twin to Pac Gate: No news in almost two years on this one, does Nat Bosa know that cycle is finished and international buyers have dried up?

You're really limited with how fast you can make a moving walkway travel before making anyone who steps on it fall flat on their face. Think trying to get on a moving treadmill. To keep this from happening you can't get them moving much faster than ~1.5mph, and seeing as the new Grand Central will be a little over a mile away you can do some pretty quick math on how long it would take to get there....

"Moderate cost" is a subjective term, but compared to the other choices this is definitely the high cost/high benefit option. I can't stress to you enough some of the engineering challenges here. The airport was dredged out of the bay during WW2, dig down 4-8 feet and the muddy tidal flat it once was is revealed. There are only a handful of companies in the world that can tunnel through such saturated ground safely, and they charge whatever they feel like for it. Plus all the safety requirements related to earthquakes by having such a structure in weak soil (a pretty big factor for this project overall, you don't want to know what will happen to 1960's era T1 if the big one hits).

In return you get the only truly unhindered ROW though, with 1 minute or less gaps between trains being very feasible. Connections from the East are subject to the occasional need for the Coast Guard to transport aircraft and supplies across Harbor Dr to and from the rest of the airport. There might be some negotiations available for that though if the viaduct can be kept high enough though.

One SANDAG director is pretty much the entire push behind the gondolas. It's pretty unlikely that it will be chosen.

Was this discussed here? Is this the spot where the rumored upcoming arena was talked about?

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...319-story.html

Mr. Mello mentioned it up above you. I don't think there's a lot to discuss since there's no formal plans, commitments, or anything beyond the basic idea of building high density housing on that spot (which has been discussed over and over again for the last decade).

I haven't heard anything about an upcoming area, and anyway this site is too small for a stadium of any real size. Parcel D is the Lexus Premier Lot, which is only slightly larger than a typical downtown block. Back when the downtown Chargers stadium was a thing it was proposed to replace the much larger Tailgate Padres Parking Lot and the MTS bus yards just to the east.

It would be great if a downtown sports arena could be built. I can see it being done only if there is a guarantee of a major league basketball & hockey team (either expansion or relocated--maybe the Gulls could be upgraded to major league status with an expansion draft--doubt the Clippers would come back down here but maybe another team would--more likely a new team). Somewhere in the East Village near the ballpark makes sense. The old Midway arena could be torn down and replaced with thousands of apartments which are badly needed. The arena could also serve for large concerts and events tied to the convention center.

Rumor was about Joe Tsai buying land in East Village and building an arena for Seals/Brooklyn Nets. Also lumped in the rumor was moving the Anehiem Ducks to San Diego since Gulls (same owner) are so well supported here. Sharing an arena in DTSD right next to Petco could drive massive future development. I guess the location would be further South by a couple of blocks tho bc I do remember hearing something about moving the MTS lines which seems like a big deal. Someone had a mock up drawing of the arena location drawn over a google map. Ill see if I can find it. Rumor was from sports talk radio FWIW but also mentioned below:

https://www.10news.com/sports/local-...ible-new-arena

Does anybody know the timeline for the Seaport village redevelopment?

When will SV be demolished?

When will construction start?

No date yet. The project has just started the public review commenting process by the Port (last meeting was 3/14/19).

According to this quote in this article from November, “A best-case scenario would see development commence in three to four years and a first phase open to the public in 2024. Of course, financing, environmental review and agency approvals would all have to align perfectly so as not to trip up developer 1HWY1’s progress.”

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...104-story.html

According to Seaport San diego's website it says the estimated ground breaking date should be March 2022

Seaport San Diego: https://www.seaportsandiegoca.com/timeline.html

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loc...507860621.html
A huge blow to civic san diego. Do you guys think it means a longer entitlement process?:shrug:

Of course it will, Civic SD issued permits in about half the time DSD does. And that's before all of downtown's building activity gets dumped on poor overworked DSD.

It was extremely nice while it lasted, when you turned in an application to Civic you could be sure it wasn't going to get stuck behind some McMansion in Point Loma the neighbors were demanding have every t crossed and every i dotted because it might throw some shade on their front yard. But Civic, especially at the board level, always had trouble dealing with being a nongovernment entity doing government work. Being on the board takes up a great deal of your time, requires a ton of very rare and very valuable expertise, and yet is completely unpaid. Inevitably the only people with both the specialized knowledge and the willingness to serve without pay were the most development obsessed people in SD: current and former developers/building consultants.

But bringing developers into your quasi-governmental agency brings up tons of issues with CA's stringent open access and anti-corruption laws. Attend Christmas dinner with your longtime friend and former coworker who still works in the industry? Congratulations, that's an illegal ex parte communication unless you write a letter detailing precisely what you discussed during the evening, disclose the value that may have been given to you (including the meal itself), and then have that published in a public registrar. Every single time you meet up with anyone involved in a downtown development project, or later becomes involved with a downtown development project, or even just works at a company which at some later point becomes involved in a downtown development project. Or you get personally sued by a bunch of rabid NIMBYs looking to kneecap anyone who doesn't gratify their contradictory desires.

Hopefully the city can work something out where downtown projects can still get a streamlined path to approval. Or at least hire more DSD staff.

Word is that the city will likely absorb the civic staff and keep the process downtown as close to current streamlined process as possible.

I don't think civic's demise will have too much of an affect on the process.

Downtown projects have been subject to NIMBY delays in the past (7th & Market anyone?). Most projects will fit within the norms of what's expected downtown, while facing the same nominal opposition levels we see today.

That's even better than I was hoping for :D

Mind you I'm not saying downtown doesn't have NIMBYs (it does), but that as much as I love them DSD gets really bogged down with the demands of reviewing permits for the entire city. Especially since when once you get out of downtown you get a lot of small scale stuff where the project sponsors don't really know what they're doing, environmental/permitting wise. It's utterly painful having to wait months on end to have your EIR even looked at while DSD teaches the guys in front of you how to properly cover their butts, and then again waiting for your turn to come around after every screening. Meanwhile Civic starts with you almost immediately and you're usually out the door in less than 6 months.

If the city can keep a second line open for downtown projects with the same staff to workload ratio I don't think anyone is going to really care who's doing the permitting, but keeping those familiar faces is a huge bonus.

Park and Market & Pinnacle 2.0
 

Coming along nicely

https://oi42.photobucket.com/albums/...psahmqcbsv.jpg

Does the second Pinnacle tower look taller or am I a tad off a bit?!?!?

https://oi42.photobucket.com/albums/...pslkb75qwr.jpg

Thanks for the update! I think the two Pinnacle towers are 479 feet. So it might just be the perspective.

I was on Shelter Island yesterday and 12th/Market is filling in a skyline gap from there. Now we need our major gap filler at 7th/Market to break ground already! They were supposed to have news in financing in April so lets hope announcement comes soon. Fed keeps printing money so this economic cycle keeps rolling :yes:

Is there a way to find out the status of Park/Market financing? Like a public database or public records request or something ?

It seems like we just have to wait for Cisterra to make a public announcement which I’m not sure they even have to do?

I’m anxious for this one to break ground. Having this Ritz project go up a few blocks down from Park and Market (which is looking awesome!) would really transform the area.