Quote:
Originally Posted by ozone
Sorry to be one of those whiners. But I strongly disagree with you about Petco Park being absolutely essential to downtown San Diego's vibrancy. It is simply not true. I grew up in San Diego I know a little about that town. First off I think it's really a stretch to compare the two towns. The physical and economic characteristics are completely different.
Downtown SD, and even this particular area of downtown, was already 'up and coming' before Petco arrived. Petco Park only added to what was already going on. Of course, it sparked quite a bit of new development around but if Petco had not been built downtown San Diego would still be a vibrant place. It's the high-rise housing boom that made it so, not a ballpark. And I would gladly bet you that almost all of the people who moved downtown since Petco was built would have done so whether the ballpark was there or not.
While I'm not against a downtown arena I think it is ridiculous to imagine that downtown Sacramento would derive the same benefit from an enclosed arena as San Diego did with an open-air ballpark. They are not the same thing.
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While I’m sure growing up in San Diego years ago gives you special insight into downtown San Diego today, I actually do development here now and have since the late 90s.
What I am comparing isn’t the respective downtowns per se; it is the concept of catalyst development and what it can do, if done right, for downtowns in general despite any physical and economic differences, both real and imagined.
The idea that San Diego’s East Village, the area to the immediate north and east of Petco Park was “up and coming” before the ballpark opened is laughably ignorant using anything other than the most absurd definitions of “up and coming.”
For example: I worked on two projects east of 7th Ave (and if you really know “a little” about the town, then you know what that means) before Petco was built. They totaled 27 units (both were three stories) and we were considered leaders and pioneers in the area.
Contrast that with west of 7th (Gaslamp, Marina, Little Italy) where we had five projects with over 300 total units and were just one of many firms doing work in these areas of downtown San Diego.
Today in the East Village, high-rises are common.
All of them have been built post Petco with the exception of one, which was built to the immediate north of Petco once the project had been approved and passed all of the legal challenges.
Petco didn’t locate in downtown because of the housing boom. In fact, it is precisely the opposite. The housing boom was a result of an attractive lifestyle afforded downtown residents of which Petco played one of two crucial roles (the other being the opening of the convention center in 1987).
An arena (or other similar catalyst) would help provide the same for downtown Sacramento.
And while you may want to bet your nickles that all people moving to downtown San Diego would have done so with or without Petco, I can tell you unequivocally that most would not have had the
opportunity to move downtown as developers wouldn’t have risked so many billions of dollars to build the thousands of residential units without Petco Park there.
To seriously think otherwise is, well, “ridiculous.”