City Council Approval Needed : Builder Picked for Downtown Condo Project
The Centre City Development Corp., the agency in charge of downtown San Diego’s redevelopment, announced Wednesday it has selected a developer with whom to negotiate for the construction of 103 condominiums in the waterfront Marina area.
The selection, which must be approved by the CCDC board of directors this Friday and later by the City Council, means downtown continues to make headway in attracting home construction, which is considered a key to its revitalization.
Picked for the project is a joint venture partnership consisting of Odmark Development Co. and Great American Development Co., two firms with extensive residential construction experience in building more than 4,000 housing units in the San Diego area.
Specifically, the proposed project would be built on a 44,600-square-foot site bounded by Martin Luther King Way and Columbia, State and G streets. The block is the home to the old Cracker Factory, which will remain, and is across the street from the Marina Park condominium project, one of the first new housing projects downtown.
The $7.7-million development as now proposed would consist of a four-story building linked by courtyards. The one- to two-bedroom condominiums are expected to cost in $80,000 to low-$100,000 range, according to Kathy Kalland, spokesman for CCDC.
The developers, who were selected by a CCDC committee over three others, say they expect to pay about $585,500 for the land and for on-site improvements. The extent of CCDC’s subsidization of the development will be the focus of negotiations, which is scheduled to take 120 days after the City Council approves the selection of Odmark/Great American.
CCDC has budgeted $4 million for the project, including the costs of buying land, making public improvements, relocating existing tenants and administrative expenses. Kalland said the agency is presently having property appraisals done on the block.
Construction on the condominiums is scheduled to begin next summer, with an opening set for the summer or fall of 1988. Depending on market conditions, the condominiums could be offered as rental units for the first few years, Kalland said.
Marina Park and Park Row, the first two condominiums projects offered for sale in the Marina area, are now almost sold out. Two apartment projects with a combined 372 units are now under construction just south of Horton Plaza. CCDC recently began negotiations with Shapell Housing-Goldrich, Kest for another Marina area residential project at First Avenue and G Street.
The agency is evaluating proposals from six developers for the construction of at least 24 units on a 10,000-square-foot lot at King Way and Third Avenue, located in the Marina area.
