New Project Aimed at Providing Taste of ‘Cosmopolitan’ Life
Plans for a $36-million condominium, office and retail project, hailed by top city redevelopment official Gerald M. Trimble as “something that’s going to add around-the-clock excitement downtown,” were unveiled Tuesday by city officials and a local development firm.
The seven-story City Plaza project, to be built on a block diagonally across from the southwest corner of the $140-million Horton Plaza retail and entertainment center, will be the first so-called “mixed-use” residential project in downtown San Diego, according to officials of the Centre City Development Corp., the city’s redevelopment arm. A mixed-use development is a relatively large-scale development that includes three or more major revenue-producing uses, such as retail, office, residential, hotel or recreational facilities.
Characterized by CCDC President Peter Q. Davis as “the first of the next generation of projects” in downtown, the City Plaza complex, which must be approved by the City Council, will include 38,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, 128,000 square feet of offices on floors two through four and 80 condominium units on the top three floors. The project is to be built on the block bounded by 1st Avenue, and Market, Front and G streets.
The one- and two-bedroom condominiums will have either city or bay views, and will be priced at $110,000 to $175,000, said Michael B. Galasso, general manager of SEG Southwest Estate Group Inc., the San Diego-based firm that is developing the project. The condo units will have about 850 to 1,150 square feet of floor space, Galasso added.
The CCDC board of directors is expected to approve a 120-day negotiation period on the proposed development on Friday. If the City Council approves the project later this year, construction would begin next spring and be completed by the summer of 1987, Galasso said.
In comparison to other downtown residential developments, City Plaza’s condominium prices are relatively modest--largely because the inclusion of retail and commercial uses in the project helps cover a major portion of the land costs that, in a strictly residential project, would be borne by home buyers. The manner in which retail, commercial or other uses can, in essence, subsidize residential development is often cited as one of the major advantages of mixed-use projects.
However, the city still will have to subsidize the project by as much as $2 million to make it economically feasible for SEG, Trimble explained. The city probably will have to pay $4.5 million to $5 million to purchase the 1.3-acre site, now occupied by a parking lot and warehouses. SEG is expected to pay only about $3 million for the land, Trimble said.
Because downtown land prices are so high, “you’re going to have to subsidize anything with residential for the time being,” Davis added.
The design of City Plaza will be similar to that of Horton Plaza, according to Scott Aishton, an architect with The Jerde Partnership, the firm that designed both projects. Saying that City Plaza will “complement Horton Plaza . . . without imitating it,” Aishton noted that the project’s mid-rise scale, pastel colors, ceramic tile and precast marble will blend in well with Horton Plaza and other nearby developments.
City Plaza’s residential units will feature formal entryways and dining rooms, according to Reinhold Wessely, SEG’s chief executive officer.
“We’re trying to create something very cosmopolitan and metropolitan . . . that gives you a feeling of a New York or Chicago,” Galasso said. “We feel people who want to live downtown want those kinds of appointments.”
“We feel as though Southern California has yet to discover what urban residential housing can be,” Aishton added. “We hope this project can open that doorway.”
The project’s retail areas are intended to primarily serve City Plaza’s residents, with small businesses such as dry cleaners, a bank branch and a delicatessen-grocery, Galasso said. A restaurant also may be built on the ground floor, Aishton said. The project also will include 360 underground parking spaces and 24-hour security.
Although the nearby Marina Park and Park Row developments’ 446 units still are not fully occupied three years after they opened, SEG officials predicted that Horton Plaza’s scheduled August opening and other redevelopment projects will significantly enhance the downtown housing market. Galasso said he believes that City Plaza’s 80 residential units will sell out within 18 months.
