[spoonman]

The La Jolla Commons is a hotel / office/ condo complex that broke ground recently in the UTC area of San Diego near the I-805 Freeway at La Jolla Village Dr. The project calls for a Mandarin Oriental Hotel, an office tower, and condominiums.
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/3674/ljcommonsgq2.jpg

[Derek]

i kinda wish the Mandarin Oriental was downtown :(

good for the community of La Jolla though:)

[spoonman]

Don't worry, downtown will probably end up with a Ritz-Carlton and a JW. I was very happy when we got the W and especially the Omni...a very premier hotel in the industry. Oh, and don't forget about the Hard Rock. It's a different breed, but there are only a few in the country. The fact that they built one in a place that doesn't have gambling is a compliment to our city.

[Derek]

^and (hopefully)in addition to those...we might get two Mandarin Orientals...one in La Jolla and one Downtown ;)




trust me guys...if my dreams came true...we would have one bad ass city!

[spoonman]

La Jolla Commons is scheduled to be completed in spring 2008. :yes:

[Derek]

La Jolla is growing up:)

[HurricaneHugo]

still needs a lot of work though

[spoonman]

Some other buildings in that area...

http://www.entersandiego.com/hotels/images/lpics/142.jpg
http://www.bayst-search-engine-optimization.com/images/hyatt-regency.jpg
http://www.bayst-search-engine-optimization.com/images/ibm-la-jolla-village.jpg
http://www.equityoffice.com/images/LAJOLLAV_251.jpg

[HurricaneHugo]

i like the one on the left on the first picture:)

[eburress]

i like the one on the left on the first picture:)

Is that the building you work in?

[spoonman]

I always liked the New York Life building

[Derek]

^same here

[austin356]

I love the other side of La Jolla, I had some good food on the cliff last time I was around. Is this going on the east or west side of the freeway?

[eburress]

^^ It's going in on the NW corner of I-805 and La Jolla Village Drive, which really isn't in La Jolla at all. :)

[HurricaneHugo]

Is that the building you work in?

nope i work at the zoo:)

[spoonman]

Does anyone live near this site? We badly need pictures of the progress at this site.

[rocketman_95046]

Does anyone live near this site? We badly need pictures of the progress at this site.

I drove by the site this weekend... Steel is going up (two or three stories) for the 15 floor midrise.. the other two buildings are simply holes in the ground.

[SD_Phil]

Okay, I'll get pictures. I've been REALLY slacking on this board. I live near the corner of Regeants and Nobel so I'm not far from this.

[HurricaneHugo]

i was going to take a picture of it but traffic made me move before i could :(

[spoonman]

According to the developer's timeline, the first building (the smallest) will be topped out on June 30th.

[SD_Phil]

edit---

[spoonman]

That's not LJCommons, I think its called Costa Verde???

[SD_Phil]

I'll delete. ;) tee hee

[sandiego_urban]

Despite an earlier article saying that Mandarin Oriental will be the operator of the hotel portion of this project, I was told that it will be a Westin, instead :(

[spoonman]

Where'd you hear that SD Urban? Maybe the Mandarin has decided on NBC instead?

[sandiego_urban]

Where'd you hear that SD Urban? Maybe the Mandarin has decided on NBC instead?
That could be. I talked to someone at the Diegan sales office who had heard that Mandarin Oriental changed it's mind about La Jolla Commons.

Speaking of the Diegan, the sales rep couldn't disclose any info, but said that the hotel operater there will be a 5-Star Brand. She said an official announcement will be made soon. Even she didn't know who it was going to be. Stay tuned and we shall see......

[spoonman]

So it would be the "Diegan Ritz" or whatever? Or is the Diegan name only applied to the condos?

[eburress]

A Mandarin Oriental at NBC makes a lot more sense than one at LJ Commons. I like the LJ Commons project, but as far as high profile locations go, this isn't it -- it is closer to Mira Mesa/city landfill/Miramar MCAS than it is to La Jolla.

[spoonman]

Here's a webcam link... I think it's from the Union Bank or Smith Barney building

http://www.ljcommons.com/web_cam.asp

[spoonman]

Some news...

According to this project's website ljcommons.com, the 1st structure under construction (which has been stalled at the 8th floor) is supposed to be topped out by June 30th. Because it's steel construction and they have only 7 more floors to go on that building (because it's the really short one at 15 floors) it may be possible, unless something has gone very wrong that we do not know about.

The other news is that the proposed hotel is going to be a W as many of you San Diego forumers already know. This will make this the second W in our city which is unheard of almost anyplace else. Mandarin Oriental was originally going to occupy the site but decided against it, as they may be looking at expanding downtown instead.

[Derek]

Mandarin Oriental would be great downtown! But I'd rather see them at the NBC site rather than the Diegan.

[StatenIslander237]

This will make this the second W in our city which is unheard of almost anyplace else.

...except Manhattan, which has like four. sorry. I <3 SanDiego ;)

Mandarin Oriental was originally going to occupy the site but decided against it, as they may be looking at expanding downtown instead.

That's pretty awesome. You know how I love an expanding downtown. I can't wait to visit San Diego someday.

Question: will these towers be the tallest buildings outside downtown when completed?

[Derek]

^Yes they will be. (The two 32 story towers that is.) :)

[sandiego_urban]

This city can't get anything done with the FAA getting involved it seems. Hopefully, this is just a minor hiccup along the way....



Height woes hit plans for office tower

Marine runway involved, but compromise is seen

By Mike Freeman
STAFF WRITER

June 23, 2007

Sunroad Enterprises isn't the only builder that has bumped against height limits in San Diego County's crowded air space. Hines, which is erecting a 15-story office building on La Jolla Village Drive overlooking Interstate 805, found out this spring that its proposed 224-foot tower encroached into a little-used landing pattern at Miramar Marine Corp Air Station.


Unlike Sunroad's project near Montgomery Field in Kearney Mesa, which is at the heart of a political storm that may require the top two floors of the nearly completed tower to be removed, Hines is on the verge of working out a deal that would allow its tower to be built as planned.

The compromise involves Hines providing an upgraded radar system at Miramar for instrument landings from the west, which would be used in poor weather. Hines is working with Makar Properties of Newport Beach, which plans twin 32-story condominium-hotel towers near Hines' office building, in its negotiations with the Marines.

Paul Twardowski, a Hines vice president in San Diego, said his company, which is based in Houston, and Makar have been talking with the Marines and the Federal Aviation Administration since March, when the situation was discovered. Seven options were considered before the radar upgrade proposal rose to the top, Twardowski said.

The Marine Corps is evaluating the proposal.

“Our dealings with Hines and Makar Properties have been cordial and professional,” said 1st Lt. Armando Daviu, a Marine spokesman at Miramar.

Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the FAA, called the Hines project “pretty routine.” He said the company has followed the law. It halted steel framing on its building at nine stories, the height limit the FAA deemed safe, until a possible solution could be reached.

Hines broke ground on its tower, called La Jolla Commons, in November. A joint venture with investment firm TIAA-CREF, the 345,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed in mid-2008.

Any building proposed to exceed 200 feet must file an aeronautical study for the FAA to review, Gregor said. Hines submitted its study to the agency in December.

In March, the FAA completed its review and concluded that 198 feet was the maximum that would be safe in that location.

The FAA's “notice of presumed hazard” surprised Hines. “There are plenty of other tall building around here,” Twardowski said. “That's why nobody realized it would be a problem.”

Twardowski added that the optimum flight path for instrument landings from the west is about a mile south of La Jolla Commons. But the airspace that must be kept clear for this flight path “is very, very wide” and encompasses the tower.

Hines and Makar propose solving the problem by paying for a precision approach radar system for instrument landings from the west. The air base already uses a precision approach radar system for the more common landings from the east, but it has a less robust airport surveillance radar for the rarely used western approach, Twardowski said.

Twardowski declined to say how much the radar system would cost. Even though framing of the building stopped for a time, construction crews have been working on other parts of the project. Twardowski expects La Jolla Commons to be completed on schedule.

“Things come up during construction,” he said. “ It's just about resolved, and it's noncontroversial.”

[sandiego_urban]

^^^^I meant to say WITHOUT the FAA getting involved

[sandiego_urban]

For some reason, I posted the above article regarding LJ Commons and it didn't bump the thread up. It's pretty newsworthy so let's try it again.......

[eburress]

Well that certainly explains why construction seemed to stop - I'm glad they will be able to finish everything.

Maybe downtown developers can learn from this and buy new radars for Lindburgh so they can put up their 750ft buildings.

[spoonman]

Seems like there's an airport interfering with development everywhere you turn in this city...

[spoonman]

Anyone been by this site lately?

[spoonman]

Looks like the shorter building is still under construction and the taller ones are undergoing foundation work.

[SD_Phil]

^It's been that way for a LONG time. I live a few blocks from the site.

The nearby Costa Verde highrise looks to be getting closer and closer to topping out however.