SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2

[Build_SD_Maxwell]

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/202...-of-deal-to-buy-redevelop-tailgate-park/

Tailgate lot development is dead

The lawsuits killed it.

https://archive.is/tT3n9

[SDfan]

I did not like that project TBH. So boxy.

[Build_SD_Maxwell]

Originally Posted by SDfan

I did not like that project TBH. So boxy.

I really just want that parking lot gone, same with the Lexus lot and 2 at 12th and Imperial, one of my friends lives in the area and it just sucks around there right now, and the parking is not helping at all

[mello]

High Octane Speculation: First you have to realize Stan Kroenke and WalMart Family are one in the same he has been married to Walton Founder's daughter since 1974. Ok so either Kroenke or WalMart Fam buy Padres. Seeing all the BS delays at Sports Arena site they decide to do the Arena at tailgate Park which everyone (City etc) would rather have there anyway. Then the New Orleans Pelicans lease ends in June 2029 WalMart buys them and moves them here to new Arena.

An Arena there would be perfect to activate downtown which can be very dead at times from Nov thru April. Gulls and NBA plus concerts etc. ComicCon people would love it as well. I guarantee you Kroenke and WalMart clan are discussing this play right now. NBA would approve because Pelicans are a dead franchise in a decrepit market. They look at Kroenke's success with Rams and Sofi and see he is an operator who knows what he is doing. WalMart bought Broncos for 4.6 billion in Summer 2022 have turned around the franchise and are building a new retractable roof Stadium for them.

[Streamliner]

It's crazy to me that Petco's been open for 20+ years and the lot across the street from the main entrance is still a parking lot.

The only thing I like appreciate about that lot is that it hosts free Comic-Con events for the general public.

As for an Arena there, I don't see how a new Arena proposal wouldn't also be dragged through lawsuits for a decade just like everything else in this city.

[mello]

Originally Posted by Streamliner

It's crazy to me that Petco's been open for 20+ years and the lot across the street from the main entrance is still a parking lot.

The only thing I like appreciate about that lot is that it hosts free Comic-Con events for the general public.

As for an Arena there, I don't see how a new Arena proposal wouldn't also be dragged through lawsuits for a decade just like everything else in this city.

Why would there be lawsuits if someone with deep pockets who has already done the biggest project in Southern California come in and pay the city for the lot and build an arena with no public funds?

[Build_SD_Maxwell]

I honestly don't know if San Diego will get another sports team, and if we do it would be at the new Sports Arena. Basketball would definitely be a good match for it but i think maybe even just the history of teams leaving San Diego would be enough to scare off someone moving a team here.

For downtown I dont think a new stadium would help, we already have 2 big events spaces that bring people downtown, the Convention Center and Petco Park. We can spread out events spaces.

Also I feel the best use for that swath of East Village is more dense development, the more people in downtown consistently is better for business. The street immediately adjacent to petco park is basically dead unless an event is going on. Having 5k more people minimum in the area would do tons to help that.

The goal for the downtown plan is 100k people in Downtown, the merits of that goal are to make a self sustainable neighborhood, not entirely reliant on tourism or events or business. While all 3 help a ton to drive foot traffic and business to downtown having manhattan level denseity will just do a ton to make the neighborhood nice.

[Build_SD_Maxwell]

https://voiceofsandiego.org/2025/12/29/n...orking-to-change-them-behind-the-scenes/
Real interesting read here

[Build_SD_Maxwell]

Working on an article right now of a year in review for development in san diego

Anything notable I might miss?

Already included the whole Horton Campus mess

[SDfan]

Happy New Year! Hope we get good high-rise news this year.

[staplesla]

The California Supreme Court on Tuesday, December 30, placed another hurdle in the City of San Diego’s effort to allow high-rise development throughout the Midway/ Pacific Highway area.

The state’s highest court affirmed a lower court ruling that the city must fully analyze the negative environmental impacts of high-density, multi-story projects and give voters that information before they agree to override the existing 30-foot height limit in the Midway/ PacHwy district.

Voters twice — but narrowly — approved the height limit waiver. But state courts said the environmental impact studies failed to study possible negative and unavoidable impacts of high-rise development on traffic, noise, pollution, and other issues.

https://obrag.org/2025/12/california-sup...ide-30-foot-height-limit-in-midway-area/

[TimeToBuild]

Seems the developers were already expecting this and are looking to move forward under the umbrella of the density bonus law, but what a disappointing outcome. Highly doubt this goes back up in front of voters anytime soon and likely puts a big damper on other height limit increase plans across the city and state

Originally Posted by staplesla

The California Supreme Court on Tuesday, December 30, placed another hurdle in the City of San Diego’s effort to allow high-rise development throughout the Midway/ Pacific Highway area.

The state’s highest court affirmed a lower court ruling that the city must fully analyze the negative environmental impacts of high-density, multi-story projects and give voters that information before they agree to override the existing 30-foot height limit in the Midway/ PacHwy district.

Voters twice — but narrowly — approved the height limit waiver. But state courts said the environmental impact studies failed to study possible negative and unavoidable impacts of high-rise development on traffic, noise, pollution, and other issues.

https://obrag.org/2025/12/california-sup...ide-30-foot-height-limit-in-midway-area/

[HurricaneHugo]

The old Walmart in Logan Heights has a lot of construction going on.

Anybody know what's going on?

The one on Imperial Ave

[SemperVigilans]

Heyyy, the Downtown Development Activity Map has updated!

https://webmaps.sandiego.gov/portal/apps/storymaps/stories/826d9f690a354f6a9634d7559e5a4d98

Check out 639 Kettner, it's like a mini version of the NYC Flatiron building.

[FromSD]

Originally Posted by SemperVigilans

Heyyy, the Downtown Development Activity Map has updated!

https://webmaps.sandiego.gov/portal/apps/storymaps/stories/826d9f690a354f6a9634d7559e5a4d98

Check out 639 Kettner, it's like a mini version of the NYC Flatiron building.

It's pretty amazing to see so many of San Diego's most iconic 1960s era high rise office buildings slated for conversion to housing. Fifty years ago there wasn't much housing downtown--other than SROs. Now it seems like there aren't many people working downtown--at least in the white collar jobs that are typically the mainstay of downtown employment. Where are all the finance jobs in San Diego if not downtown?

I do hope the residential conversion of the old SDG&E headquarters (101 Ash) works out. It's one of the more distinctive buildings downtown and it would be a shame if it were torn down due to asbestos contamination.

[FoldingBoxes]

Originally Posted by SemperVigilans

Check out 639 Kettner, it's like a mini version of the NYC Flatiron building.

If memory serves, that 639 Kettner building is planned to be a single family home. It must be for someone who loves trains, because they are going to see (and hear) a lot of them.

[Streamliner]

Originally Posted by FoldingBoxes

If memory serves, that 639 Kettner building is planned to be a single family home. It must be for someone who loves trains, because they are going to see (and hear) a lot of them.

You are correct. The only reason that building is actually doable at that size/location is because it's a single residence. It doesn't require the additional stairwells/elevators that a multi-residential building would need on that same plot of land.

Speaking of which, is there a push to revisit dual staircase rules in California? I believe in Washington or Oregon or somewhere else they did away with it in the hope that it would spur more smaller infill projects.

[Will O' Wisp]

Originally Posted by mello

I've also been curious for years about the huge property at Mira Mar Rd, Nobel and East Gate Mall. For some reason it's part of Miramar base even though it's on North side of the road and will obviously never be used for military purposes. Has anyone ever heard if the city has approached the Federal Gov to annex this land for dense housing? It looks to be 85 to 100 flat acres.

Late reply but:

Aircraft from Miramar can't take off straight ahead. To avoid Mt Soledad, they have to make a right turn immediately after takeoff, following the 805 corridor to Torrey Pines before reaching the ocean. This is designated the Sea Wolf Corridor.

Dozens of F/A-18s overfly that area at low altitude every weekday. I've been there myself, and trust me you could never build any sort of housing. There isn't enough noise suppression in the world to make it habitable.

The Marines would also greatly prefer not to have anything built there at all just in case one of their jets has an engine failure on takeoff. The properties north of Eastgate Mall Rd there have tight land use restrictions, light industrial or agriculture only, nothing that might cause people to congregate.

And finally, the City managed to negotiate for some land south of Eastgate for the Pure Water plant, so in a year or two all of San Diego's sewage is going to start getting pumped up there to be treated and reused.

That spot might very well win the award for "worst place in San Diego to build a house". Maybe all of California...

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by Will O' Wisp

Late reply but:

Aircraft from Miramar can't take off straight ahead. To avoid Mt Soledad, they have to make a right turn immediately after takeoff, following the 805 corridor to Torrey Pines before reaching the ocean. This is designated the Sea Wolf Corridor.

Dozens of F/A-18s overfly that area at low altitude every weekday. I've been there myself, and trust me you could never build any sort of housing. There isn't enough noise suppression in the world to make it habitable.

The Marines would also greatly prefer not to have anything built there at all just in case one of their jets has an engine failure on takeoff. The properties north of Eastgate Mall Rd there have tight land use restrictions, light industrial or agriculture only, nothing that might cause people to congregate.

And finally, the City managed to negotiate for some land south of Eastgate for the Pure Water plant, so in a year or two all of San Diego's sewage is going to start getting pumped up there to be treated and reused.

That spot might very well win the award for "worst place in San Diego to build a house". Maybe all of California...

This is really helpful, thank you, Will.

Is there any official height limit in UTC/University City? I feel like you've answered this question before, so sorry for pestering again!

[Will O' Wisp]

Originally Posted by SDfan

This is really helpful, thank you, Will.

Is there any official height limit in UTC/University City? I feel like you've answered this question before, so sorry for pestering again!

Being a military airfield, Miramar has a massive extended Part 77 horizontal surface, stretching N/S from Solana Beach to Balboa Park, and E/W from Poway and Santee to the sea.

It lies at 978' MSL, and if you breach it then you're forbidden from building higher than 500' AGL. Seeing as UTC is at ~400' MSL, it's basically a 500' limit, same as downtown.

The Part 77 surfaces dip down a bit next to the 805 and in all of University City (the rules for drawing them assume you're taking off straight, even though no one flying out of Miramar does). The exact height above ground varies, from ~200' right across the 805 from the runways to ~450' by the time you reach the 5. You could technically build a 500'er there, but it would annoy the Marines, so the City would deny your permit if you tried.

The City already went through this with the block of buildings at the NW corner of the Miramar Rd/805 innerchange, which is why everything from the 805 to Town Center Dr already has restrictive easements on their properties. That was the City's prerequisite to build anything there.

There's a map of all this in Miramar's ALUCP, you can find it on page 116.

EDIT: I just realized, I don't think I ever mentioned the Airport Authority released a mapping tool for height limits and other factors last year. A ton of work went into this, it includes not just Part 77 surfaces and TERPS, but also the OEI surfaces and Caltrans limits.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/b505421b599d4c9389e967311cfb1095

It's a pretty powerful tool that can be tricky to use, for the simplest version I would recommend hiding all map layers other than Max Structure Height and Max Structure Height Analysis. Then, just click on the spot you're interested and it will tell you exactly how high you can build.

If you're wondering why some areas are thin strips, that's because many height limits are actually angled. The only way to program that in was as a series of strips for every 1' of additional height. You can see the actual area boundaries if you switch on the San Critical Surface Area layer, which maps the lowest limiting factor is for every location.