SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2

[IconRPCV]

From the stimulus package the city of SD put together it looks like the first phase of the North Embarcadero PLan will get a jump start with the stimulus money.

Wish they would have earmarked some funds for the Library, but they didn't.

[kpexpress]

So I'm down here eating an amazing fish taco at Tin Fish right in front of the fountains and I can't remember why the city put those lame baracades in front of the fountain. Can someone update me? It's so sad cause there are toe of kids wanting to go play but can't.

[voice of reason]

Did you know that there are three laws schools neard downtown that pump out hungry lawyers looking for ways to pay off student loans? Yes, they have even sued and collected from the kiddy fountain.

[staplesla]

Originally Posted by kpexpress

So I'm down here eating an amazing fish taco at Tin Fish right in front of the fountains and I can't remember why the city put those lame baracades in front of the fountain. Can someone update me? It's so sad cause there are toe of kids wanting to go play but can't.

Code requires that for safety reason the fountain be brought up to date. The city hasn't been willing to pay for the update with the SD budget crisis. Local businesses were pulling money together but since the nationwide economic crisis started that fell apart.

[staplesla]

Originally Posted by druna974

Someone told me they were talking with a contractor working on Strata this weekend, and there are new plans to top off at 12 floors, rather than 23. Has anyone heard this and can confirm or deny it?

They are starting floor 15 now. So I guess this rumor wasn't true.

[kpexpress]

Originally Posted by staplesla

Code requires that for safety reason the fountain be brought up to date. The city hasn't been willing to pay for the update with the SD budget crisis. Local businesses were pulling money together but since the nationwide economic crisis started that fell apart.

Does anyone know how it is out dated? It's a freaking fountain for God's sake.

[PadreHomer]

Originally Posted by staplesla

They are starting floor 15 now. So I guess this rumor wasn't true.

Really? I counted 13. Either way, good sign

[staplesla]

Originally Posted by PadreHomer

Really? I counted 13. Either way, good sign

If you look at the north side of the building they have the floor numbers painted in orange next to the construction elevator.

[Marina_Guy]

Originally Posted by staplesla

Code requires that for safety reason the fountain be brought up to date. The city hasn't been willing to pay for the update with the SD budget crisis. Local businesses were pulling money together but since the nationwide economic crisis started that fell apart.

I would suggest you contact the Mayor's office and District 2 and complain about the condition of the fountain. It is the City's responsibility to spend capital dollars to fix it. Clean&Safe maintains it. There is a movement afoot to shut it down completely. The Gaslamp merchants are eager to capture that park and make it an event space for corporate parties and such. Little kids enjoying the fountain is not what they have in mind. They are now using the water crisis as a 'reason' to shut it down. The fountain needs to be updated as it has many structural and safety issues. I don't think this should be an excuse to shut it down. Funds can be found to fix this asset to the area.

[staplesla]

March 11, 2009

San Diego's new downtown federal courthouse can move forward now that President Obama has signed a bill including an additional $110 million for the project, stalled since 2007.

“This project has been shovel-ready for a while,” Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, said in a news release. “The additional funding will allow us to move on to the next phase for this much-needed judicial building.”

Federal officials said the addition brings the total federal funding to $368.7 million and allows the government to sign a contract with a builder. Past attempts to collect bids were halted when construction costs outstripped the previously approved budget.

The site, on Broadway between State and Union streets, has been a block-sized hole in the ground since the Hotel San Diego was demolished in 2006.

Irma Gonzalez, chief judge of the U.S. District Court, said the government already has new bids and hopes to award the contract in 60 days. Groundbreaking is planned for late May, she said, and the 16-story courthouse should open in October 2012.

According to one estimate, the project could create 500 construction jobs over three years.

A nosedive in construction costs since 2006 means details cut from the original blueprint as a cost-saving measure can be restored, Gonzalez said.

Those cuts had included making the glass entry rotunda smaller, trimming some exterior flourishes and simplifying the building's foundations and framing.

Some of that can be inserted again, Gonzalez said, but the building won't be returned to its original 22 stories. In order to add the deleted floors, the judiciary would have to return to Congress again, she said.

The new facility will be an annex of the existing federal courthouse downtown, which is one of the nation's busiest border courts.

Because the project was stalled, the federal court probably will have to rent office space until the new site opens, Gonzalez said.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stori.../?zIndex=65461

[CoastersBolts]

It's about time work got started on the new Federal Courthouse. What has it been, 3 years since the Diegan Hotel was demolished? And it will be another 3 years before the new courthouse opens? So figure that the new facility could be nearing completion now had the project not been stalled.

[kpexpress]

Ran by the site the other to ask a few questions and found out that E Street between Union and State will no longer exist. The building will span from Broadway to the Prison which will make for an awesome tall, long and skinny tower. I am stoked for this project. Should help out with the severely outdated line of highrises along Broadway. (west of India)

Snapped some shots on the iPhone.

[Marina_Guy]

Originally Posted by staplesla

March 11, 2009

San Diego's new downtown federal courthouse can move forward now that President Obama has signed a bill including an additional $110 million for the project, stalled since 2007.

“This project has been shovel-ready for a while,” Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, said in a news release. “The additional funding will allow us to move on to the next phase for this much-needed judicial building.”

Federal officials said the addition brings the total federal funding to $368.7 million and allows the government to sign a contract with a builder. Past attempts to collect bids were halted when construction costs outstripped the previously approved budget.

The site, on Broadway between State and Union streets, has been a block-sized hole in the ground since the Hotel San Diego was demolished in 2006.

Irma Gonzalez, chief judge of the U.S. District Court, said the government already has new bids and hopes to award the contract in 60 days. Groundbreaking is planned for late May, she said, and the 16-story courthouse should open in October 2012.

According to one estimate, the project could create 500 construction jobs over three years.

A nosedive in construction costs since 2006 means details cut from the original blueprint as a cost-saving measure can be restored, Gonzalez said.

Those cuts had included making the glass entry rotunda smaller, trimming some exterior flourishes and simplifying the building's foundations and framing.

Some of that can be inserted again, Gonzalez said, but the building won't be returned to its original 22 stories. In order to add the deleted floors, the judiciary would have to return to Congress again, she said.

The new facility will be an annex of the existing federal courthouse downtown, which is one of the nation's busiest border courts.

Because the project was stalled, the federal court probably will have to rent office space until the new site opens, Gonzalez said.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stori.../?zIndex=65461

They are going to close Union Street to vehicle traffic... boo hiss. I am super pleased to see that some of the quality finishes of the building will return!

[bmfarley]

Originally Posted by Marina_Guy

They are going to close Union Street to vehicle traffic... boo hiss. I am super pleased to see that some of the quality finishes of the building will return!

What will stink about the new Courthouse is that there will be zero ground level retail to activiate the block. The result will be a 2-4 block section of Broadway that will be dead.... something like India to 1st Avenue.

[mongoXZ]

Maybe they can put a few hot dog stands on the sidewalk. Probably some taco trucks on the curb. And how about a dippin dots kiosk too? That'll bring 'em in!

[Crackertastik]

Originally Posted by bmfarley

What will stink about the new Courthouse is that there will be zero ground level retail to activiate the block. The result will be a 2-4 block section of Broadway that will be dead.... something like India to 1st Avenue.

Are there ANY courthouses with ground level retail? Seriously? It will have open space for leisure. But I can't remember the last courthouse I went to that had a Subway sandwhich and a Gucci store on the ground level.

By the way, career change! Hilton is leaving California so im ditching developing hotels, for some good ol fashioned education. I got accepted to USC Graduate School! Dual Program for public policy and urban planning. Maybe San Diego will back to booming by the time i graduate!

[kpexpress]

I think that the federal courthouse tower will bring some serious energy to 1st ave/F street area retail and C street. I would hate it if the courthouse had retail, what a horrible idea.

[kpexpress]

City Hall Developer Open to Including Library

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The idea of including a library in a possible rebuilding of the City Hall complex has been provoking some chatter, as Scott Lewis has written.

The developer who has proposed building a new City Hall complex told me recently that he'd be willing to consider including a library in the plans if that's what the City Council wants.

"If the city decides to change gears at some point and wants to study that, we'd be willing to study that," said Tom Cody of Gerding Edlen said, adding that the company hasn't drawn up any plans for a library because it hasn't been asked to.

Cody said a library is like "a living room to the community, so adding that to the mix adds so much vibrancy to it all."

I asked Cody about including the library because Councilman Carl DeMaio mentioned recently that Centre City Development Corp. had analyzed the issue in August in response to DeMaio's questions. DeMaio has advocated studying the idea, though he opposes both building a downtown library and a new City Hall, at least for another decade.

In a letter to DeMaio, Jeff Graham, CCDC's assistant vice president for redevelopment, estimated that the city could raise from $24 million to $30 million by selling the East Village site slated for a downtown library (or schoobrary).

Such a move would mean less space on the City Hall site for private development, which would reduce by $7.4 million the price Gerding Edlen would pay the city for the land.

However, Graham said those numbers are back-of-the-envelope estimates, and should be taken with a grain of salt. For one thing, he said, the real estate market has changed significantly since August. He also noted that a more formal analysis would have to be completed to examine, for instance, how much the library space would shrink if it was combined with a City Hall complex.

"I made a lot of assumptions that haven’t really been vetted with anyone except me," he said.

DeMaio thinks the city could save more by replacing space designated for future city expansion with the library. However, Graham said including expansion space was a critical part of the plans because it would avoid the current problem, in which the city must lease space because it outgrew the buildings it owns.

Unsurprisingly, DeMaio -- an advocate of privatization and shrinking government -- doesn't believe officials should assume the city will grow and need more space.

Lest you think that all this talk means a library could sway DeMaio into the camp supporting a new City Hall, the councilman said he'll still vote against the idea. "If I can't stop a dumb idea from going forward, I'm going to try to smarten it up," he said.

The whole issue of including the library isn't a part of a review of the City Hall proposal. A draft of that review has been circulating and the final version is due out next week.


-- RANI GUPTA

[HurricaneHugo]

Originally Posted by Crackertastik

I got accepted to USC Graduate School! Dual Program for public policy and urban planning.

I'm thinking of minoring in Urban Studies and Planning to compliment my Structural Engineering degree.

How's the job market for urban planners?

[kpexpress]

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stori.../?zIndex=67019

more funds for the courthouse