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Originally Posted by CurtisParkChris
Hey all - Planning a move to San Diego from Denver next year and wanted to get to know the urban neighborhoods where (re)development is focused to stake out a great place to lay down roots. Any recommendations on who to follow or where you get your urbanist news for San Diego area? Thanks in advance and hope to contribute when we make the move!
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Welcome to the thread! I don't know much about Denver, but compared to LA or SF there aren't as many news resources. Probably the closest thing to your traditional local urbanist newszine is the
VoSD, although they're more about local politics than development updates. Urbanzine has a
development map that's fairly regularly updated. The
San Diego Union-Tribune actually puts out a good deal of development focused content, more than you'd expect for your average 'big corporate newspaper', all lowest common denominator in tone but still pretty well researched.
Honestly though the thread itself tends to be one of the major resources, which I think is what keeps it active. Most of the stuff coming out here is directly from the sources in the form of building plans/permit applications.
Downtown is currently a hotbed of development. The thread tends to focus on projects there because they're more interesting individually but North Park, Mission Valley, and UTC are all rapidly building up as well.
You might want to consider reading up on these projects, they're huge and ongoing and subject to to near constant discussion:
Manchester Pacific Gateway (MPG):
The biggest development in downtown SD history, MPG finally started construction last year after a 15 year legal saga. It's a hotel/retail/office complex stretching across 8 blocks of waterfront real estate, replacing a navy office and a mass of parking lots. Includes two high rises and a smattering of mid rises. Scheduled for completion in 2021.
Terminal One replacement: A long overdue replacement of the 1960's era terminal one at San Diego International Airport (which is right next to downtown, that's going to be an adjustment for you). Has been controversial due to the the potential traffic impacts, during the environmental review last year it was decided to integrate a public transit connection that will either be an extension of the trolley or 'San Diego Grand Central': a new regional transportation hub. Which one it will be should be announced sometime in September, construction on the new terminal should start in 2022 with timelines on the rest a bit fuzzier.
Seaport Village redevelopment: The MPG is
big but this is one
BIG. It's an even larger entertainment complex replacing the dinky shops of the current seaport village. Includes a 500' observation tower (tallest allowed due to proximity to the airport), an aquarium, museums, hotels, you name it. Currently in design review, if all goes well groundbreaking will be in 2024.
SDSU West: A ballot proposition last year approved selling the Qualcomm stadium in Mission Valley to SDSU college over a proposal to develop it as a soccer focused entertainment complex. One of the largest redevelopment projects in the city by area, the college will replace the stadium with a mix of housing/office/school buildings. Controversial due to the uncertainty of SDSU's ability to pay for a development of this size, and (arguably) the residual unhappiness over our NFL team leaving for LA after a proposition to build them a replacement for Qualcomm failed at the ballot office. Everything about the project is still fuzzy, from timelines to the exact nature of what will be built.