SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2

[JerellO]

Originally Posted by dirt patch

So true: a lot fewer pretty blondes. In 2000, Gaslamp was packed with so many pretty girls/women everywhere, and now, not so much. Sad.

What are you trying to say?? lol none blondes aren’t pretty??

[dirt patch]

Originally Posted by JerellO

What are you trying to say?? lol none blondes aren’t pretty??

What I'm saying: exact same ambiance in 2000: mixture of everyone: plenty of brunettes and blondes.

[IconRPCV]

Originally Posted by dirt patch

I didn't see it coming. Downtown SD is an epic disaster with failed projects and steep discounted office towers with vacancies. Gaslamp is no longer the place to be seen. Now, rental vacancy is high downtown with landlords offering concessions. The only bright spot and then it's starting to slip: Little Italy. Downtown is really suffering.

Cities ebb and flow, they progress in fits and starts. Ive lived here since 76 and the transformation has been indescribable. In the 90's and early millennium it was all about the Gaslamp and East Village once Petco was completed. Then the life moved to Little Italy and now to North and South Park. We are not such a huge population base that we can support everything being super shiny and pretty, hell look at Los Angeles, even their high-end neighborhoods look rough. I actually prefer my cities a little rough around the edges, if I didn't I'd live in Irvine.

[bgrapes]

Has this been shared here yet? This is 4002 Park Blvd, planned for Hillcrest at Park Blvd and Lincoln Ave. 20 stories, 195 units. More info here.

I see people on Instagram complaining about the design, but I think it's pretty nice for Hillcrest. Many of the ugliest buildings in the city have been built in this neighborhood over the last several years (see Eitol Tower). This isn't bad. Yes, there's a parking podium, but imagine the outrage if there wasn't any parking at all. I'd love to see more high-rises built along Park Blvd.

[unpermitted_variance]

To be honest that parking podium is pretty god-awful. Belongs in Texas.

That being said, I'm still happy to see more high-rise development in Hillcrest, and I hope I'm proven wrong and the podium is well-executed.


Also, I will not accept Eitol Towers slander! I firmly believe that it is one of the best and most interesting new buildings in San Diego, and will prove to be iconic with time.

[Streamliner]

Originally Posted by bgrapes

Has this been shared here yet? This is 4002 Park Blvd, planned for Hillcrest at Park Blvd and Lincoln Ave. 20 stories, 195 units. More info here.

I see people on Instagram complaining about the design, but I think it's pretty nice for Hillcrest. Many of the ugliest buildings in the city have been built in this neighborhood over the last several years (see Eitol Tower). This isn't bad. Yes, there's a parking podium, but imagine the outrage if there wasn't any parking at all. I'd love to see more high-rises built along Park Blvd.

Hey now, I love Eitol. It's zany and bright, and the facade looks like a candy wrapper. If anything Hillcrest needs more oddities like this and fewer bland beige stucco complexes. Also, it's far too short to be that offensive.



As for 4002 Park, I like this too; I agree we need more height. Design-wise, San Diego towers are usually very repetetive with their balconies, but this one does a good job of making them part of the overall design. The pedestal hides the parking podium well in my opinion. It hides the fact that it's a garage. For now, parking is a necessary evil for most developers.

Speaking of Hillcrest/Bankers Hill, I'm also excited to see the Quince Apartments at Spruce Street pop up (see below). I think the architecture reflects historic San Diego designs, while also providing much needed height in this area.Though I'm worried about this one too. Last I see online though is a lawsuit filed by neighbors due to its 194-foot height

[bgrapes]

I agree that Eitol is interesting and that’s nice…but it’s the wavy red panels that make it look cheap IMO.

[FromSD]

Originally Posted by unpermitted_variance

To be honest that parking podium is pretty god-awful. Belongs in Texas.

Agreed. It's like the tower itself is an afterthought to the podium. The podium's plain expanse only makes the building look bottom heavy. And if this building gets value-engineered, it's going to look even worse. Hillcrest isn't directly served by high quality public transit, so the podium and all that parking are no doubt necessary, but the chosen design really makes the podium look worse than it needed to be.

[Streamliner]

I had jury duty the other day so I took some photos downtown. Here are some photos:

I walked under West (née Courthouse Commons). The cantilever is pretty cool, and I like the mirror-glass cladding, but the facade of the tower is very bland. Typical San Diego architecture. The density and height is always welcome though.

West:



I also took a quick stroll to RaDD to check out how it's coming along, and it looks great, though very quiet. Nothing's open yet, and workers were still there putting up finishing touches. It's dead, but the ground level areas have potential. The Union-Tribune printed an article today saying Equinox Gym was signed as a new retail tenant, so hopefully this development can at least get some more ground-level activity going on. Without office tenants it will probably stay quiet sadly.

I get why biotech firms don't want to locate themselves 15 miles from the rest of the industry, but it looks like a great place to work. It's too bad to see IQHQ is having trouble attracting tenants.

They are also finishing a new park, Progress Park, which I haven't heard anything about online or in the news. It's pretty much complete and just has a fence around it. Similar to Waterfront Park, there's a parking garage underground. Looks to be mostly landscaping and grassy areas, with a large art piece at the northern end. Actually, there's a lot of large public art pieces scattered around the district, with oversize sculptures at each intersection of the pedestrian promenade and streets.

RaDD's tallest building (17 stories) is in the background. RaDD maintains the park:


Manchester's hotel will rise just behind the park:


Map of the district showing the new streets have new names as well:


RaDD begins on the right, Manchester's hotel will be built on the left, behind Progress Park and in front of Pacific Gate:


Public art along the pedestrian promenade. The promenade bisects the district from north to south. Navy HQ is on the left:


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[dirt patch]

Originally Posted by IconRPCV

Cities ebb and flow, they progress in fits and starts. Ive lived here since 76 and the transformation has been indescribable. In the 90's and early millennium it was all about the Gaslamp and East Village once Petco was completed. Then the life moved to Little Italy and now to North and South Park. We are not such a huge population base that we can support everything being super shiny and pretty, hell look at Los Angeles, even their high-end neighborhoods look rough. I actually prefer my cities a little rough around the edges, if I didn't I'd live in Irvine.

True but sad. Really miss the fun of the Gaslamp when it had the beautiful people. It's too bad that they couldn't keep up the tempo despite Little Italy. North Park should've just attracted the edgy and tattoo crowd with musicians while the sheek crowds stay in Gaslamp. Kind of like eat your cake, too. There you go: different crowd in different parts of the city. I guess SD is not that way.

[JerellO]

Originally Posted by bgrapes

Has this been shared here yet? This is 4002 Park Blvd, planned for Hillcrest at Park Blvd and Lincoln Ave. 20 stories, 195 units. More info here.

I see people on Instagram complaining about the design, but I think it's pretty nice for Hillcrest. Many of the ugliest buildings in the city have been built in this neighborhood over the last several years (see Eitol Tower). This isn't bad. Yes, there's a parking podium, but imagine the outrage if there wasn't any parking at all. I'd love to see more high-rises built along Park Blvd.

I actually like the podium and think it hides the parking well. A lot of times, when glass is used you can still see all the cars which makes it ugly. Like someone else said, if executed well this could look really nice. If it’s stucco I think it would look okay, but if it’s concrete with cutouts for those vertical lights.. I think it could look kind of cool. Like a neo-brutalist structure.. or Blade Runner looking.