SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2

[Streamliner]

Glad to see Seaport still moving forward, though I worry about the timeline and that the project will get watered down over the next 5 years. That BIG tower needs to be built. San Diego's skyline is getting dense, but all its architectural character is getting hidden by all the identical glass-and-balcony condos.

I drove through DT yesterday, and Little Italy was extremely busy. Lots of towers going up in the vicinity there which will only help. Really cool to see. I drove by the RaDD site too. While it is obviously empty, the waterfront is still pretty bustling so I'm hopeful about the ground-floor retail areas at least.

[Yatestr04]

Hello all! I see this forum is pretty silent, are there other resources/sites that people use to learn and see what is upcoming in and around SD? I would love to see more chatter on here, but just making sure its not happening on another page/forum. Thanks!

[Streamliner]

Originally Posted by Yatestr04

Hello all! I see this forum is pretty silent, are there other resources/sites that people use to learn and see what is upcoming in and around SD? I would love to see more chatter on here, but just making sure its not happening on another page/forum. Thanks!

Yes unfortunately there's not much discussion on SSP for San Diego-related topics. I would also like to see more regular chatter here. It comes in spurts, but then will go silent for long stretches. I'm not sure what other forums/sites discuss development. I know Twitter is big with the urbanist crowd, and you'll find discussions of projects here and there. Reddit's r/sandiego forum will discuss development at times, but it's from a regular local's perspective, usually.

I think part of the problem with SD-related discussion is our height limit, unfortunately. Taller skyscrapers bring in more interest, which obviously we don't have. Funnily, the height limit issue is what generates a lot of discussion on this thread. We love to bring it up, lament the problem, and wonder if there's a way around it.

[Thatguyoverwhere]

Originally Posted by Yatestr04

Hello all! I see this forum is pretty silent, are there other resources/sites that people use to learn and see what is upcoming in and around SD? I would love to see more chatter on here, but just making sure its not happening on another page/forum. Thanks!

Yeah, it’s a mystery to me why there’s so little discussion of San Diego development. I’ve scoured the internet and so far this is the most active forum I’ve seen, which is wild because it’s literally just a single thread that can go silent for weeks at a time. Much smaller cities with far less development get way more discussion than SD, and my only guess is that this is yet another case of SD getting overlooked by the general public because of its proximity to LA.

[superfishy]

Originally Posted by Yatestr04

Hello all! I see this forum is pretty silent, are there other resources/sites that people use to learn and see what is upcoming in and around SD? I would love to see more chatter on here, but just making sure its not happening on another page/forum. Thanks!

This link gets updated roughly every 6 months which is a decent way to stay up to date with the projects in and around downtown.

https://webmaps.sandiego.gov/portal/...34d7559e5a4d98

[Jhanson312]

Since we need discussion, let’s talk about Bankers Hill. That area has the potential to form a second mini-skyline in San Diego with all of the new developments in the works. Does anyone know the status of Quince? It was approved almost a year ago. I hope the developer was able to secure financing early on.

[homebucket]

Moderator note: Please stay on topic. Off topic posts of any nature are subject to deletion, and especially ones that are political in nature and inciting violence of any kind will not be tolerated, and suspensions will be handed out if it continues.

[Streamliner]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Moderator note: Please stay on topic. Off topic posts of any nature are subject to deletion, and especially ones that are political in nature and inciting violence of any kind will not be tolerated, and suspensions will be handed out if it continues.

Having come online today reading through the few recent posts about how slow this thread is, this one really threw me off lol.

Originally Posted by Jhanson312

Since we need discussion, let’s talk about Bankers Hill. That area has the potential to form a second mini-skyline in San Diego with all of the new developments in the works. Does anyone know the status of Quince? It was approved almost a year ago. I hope the developer was able to secure financing early on.

I would say it's less a mini skyline and more of a linear extension of downtown, at least when viewed from the harbor. I really like how highrises are going up. Since the buildings are on top of the hill, even though they are shorter, they keep the same skyline effect as the downtown towers due to elevation.

As for second mini-skylines, UTC definitely takes that spot. But if we're looking for a third mini-skyline (or fourth if you count Mission Valley), Hillcrest could be a contender. With their community plan update, I'm hoping more tall buildings can start going up there and giving it some real nice density. It will have the same hilltop effect that Bankers Hill has too. And from afar, we could hopefully start getting a nice line of "high"-rises from downtown to the rim of Mission Valley

[JSW]

Im my humble opinion, the following greater downtown and surrounding areas I've highlighted should be elligible for major density and height increases - let the developers go wild. Fast track a 2nd ring trolley line that connects this whole region around Balboa Park. This could be such a top tier collection of connected urban neighborhoods if incentives were there for people to feasibly enjoy this type of lifestyle with much less car use on the daily.

[Thatguyoverwhere]

Originally Posted by Streamliner

Having come online today reading through the few recent posts about how slow this thread is, this one really threw me off lol.



I would say it's less a mini skyline and more of a linear extension of downtown, at least when viewed from the harbor. I really like how highrises are going up. Since the buildings are on top of the hill, even though they are shorter, they keep the same skyline effect as the downtown towers due to elevation.

As for second mini-skylines, UTC definitely takes that spot. But if we're looking for a third mini-skyline (or fourth if you count Mission Valley), Hillcrest could be a contender. With their community plan update, I'm hoping more tall buildings can start going up there and giving it some real nice density. It will have the same hilltop effect that Bankers Hill has too. And from afar, we could hopefully start getting a nice line of "high"-rises from downtown to the rim of Mission Valley

I'm also waiting for the seemingly inevitable transformation of the districts between UTC and uptown. Midway seems destined to become a walkable neighborhood with Midway Rising, Convoy is quickly evolving into a proper neighborhood and dining/retail hub, and a huge chunk of Mission Valley is being converted to dense developments. I could also definitely see Morena and Linda Vista getting glow-ups of their own along their main streets, which seem like ideal candidates for the type of development going in now around Hillcrest and North Park.

Hopefully these will also be accompanied by major transit upgrades to make walkable urban lifestyle actually feasible. Mission Valley is pretty well connected, but other areas like Hillcrest, North Park, Bankers Hill, Midway, and pretty soon Kearny Mesa are clearly going to need Trolley access to succeed as urban population centers.

[SDfan]

I think San Diego is going to look a lot more like Barcelona than Houston or Dallas in terms of mini skylines. I have seen a lot of upcoming proposed projects in Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, North Park, and even South Park that are between 6-12 stories tall. The good news is that with the city's housing reforms projects above 8 stories finally pencil so we are going to break out of the 5-8-story stick and podium projects we've seen go up around the Balboa Park neighborhoods so far. The only downside right now is interest rates. Until those go down, everything will be sitting in permit mode.

I do have hope for UTC. It was just announced in the SDUT that UCSD is going to build a new 6,000 bed village between I-5 and the new trolley station by Pepper Canyon. For reference, the new 22-story towers they built on the other side of the new trolley are a bit over 1,300 beds. So cross your fingers they ramp up the tower heights for this new project and that the UC regents approve it!

UC San Diego poised to super-size dorms to ease chronic housing shortage
Article link: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...sing-shortage/

[Streamliner]

Originally Posted by SDfan

I think San Diego is going to look a lot more like Barcelona than Houston or Dallas in terms of mini skylines. I have seen a lot of upcoming proposed projects in Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, North Park, and even South Park that are between 6-12 stories tall. The good news is that with the city's housing reforms projects above 8 stories finally pencil so we are going to break out of the 5-8-story stick and podium projects we've seen go up around the Balboa Park neighborhoods so far. The only downside right now is interest rates. Until those go down, everything will be sitting in permit mode.

I do have hope for UTC. It was just announced in the SDUT that UCSD is going to build a new 6,000 bed village between I-5 and the new trolley station by Pepper Canyon. For reference, the new 22-story towers they built on the other side of the new trolley are a bit over 1,300 beds. So cross your fingers they ramp up the tower heights for this new project and that the UC regents approve it!

UC San Diego poised to super-size dorms to ease chronic housing shortage
Article link: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...sing-shortage/

Yeah I'm excited to see what UCSD is planning there. It's a great spot to build, it's away from all the rich people to the west, so they can build big, and it's right next to the Trolley station, so there's good demand there. Honestly it's the kind of development that needs to be at every single Trolley station in this City. Not just the one at a major university.

[unpermitted_variance]

It's by no means a final design, but I did find a Planning Study for the UCSD Pepper Canyon East that may give a hint to what's to come for the site:
https://www.hed.design/stories/ucsd-pepper-canyon

There's also a little more info in this document prepared for the UC Regents in May:
https://regents.universityofcaliforn...t/may24/f9.pdf

Again, no floor counts, but it talks of 6,000 new residential beds in mid-rise and high-rise buildings.

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by unpermitted_variance

It's by no means a final design, but I did find a Planning Study for the UCSD Pepper Canyon East that may give a hint to what's to come for the site:
https://www.hed.design/stories/ucsd-pepper-canyon

There's also a little more info in this document prepared for the UC Regents in May:
https://regents.universityofcaliforn...t/may24/f9.pdf

Again, no floor counts, but it talks of 6,000 new residential beds in mid-rise and high-rise buildings.

Love this. Thank you.

[SDfan]

Looks like we're getting my high-rises at UCSD:

UC San Diego gets OK to build historic 6,000-bed housing village
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...using-village/

"UC San Diego received permission from University of California regents Thursday to build one of the largest campus housing villages in the system’s history, a 6,000-bed community mostly composed of towering dorms.

The plan calls for sandwiching the dorms inside a 20-acre area between the school’s Blue Line trolley station and Interstate 5. Construction on the first 2,000 beds could begin as early as 2026."

[superfishy]

Saw an interesting post on Reddit showing the amount of highrises currently under construction in each city metro. San Diego metro accounts for nearly 50% of all highrise construction in California.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeaut...n_activity_in/