SAN DIEGO | Boom Rundown, Vol. 2

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by dales5050

Words matter. As does reading reading comprehension. Clearly you have trouble with both.

This is hilarious coming from you, dalez.

In other news:

Architects Named for $250 Million Downtown Project
http://sdbj.com/news/2015/jul/02/arc...ntown-project/

Zephyr Partners recently named the lead building design and landscape architects for The Block, a $250 million downtown mixed-use project announced last year by the San Diego-based developer.

Officials said the lead architect is Joseph Wong, of Joseph Wong Design Associates in San Diego. Landscape architecture will be overseen by Lifescapes International Inc. of Newport Beach.

Plans for The Block, also known informally as Broadway Block, are currently under review by downtown community planners and Civic San Diego. City documents indicate that the residential and retail project spans the full block bounded by C Street, Broadway, Seventh and Eighth avenues.

Does anyone have access to the San Diego Business Journal? There are a lot of great articles in there, but they require a subscription.

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by Northparkwizard

Save face? I never mentioned the NBA and that's obvious. Simply stating that our NCAA Division I Basketball team enjoys tremendous support. Nothing more.

Fine. I'll accept this.

[HurricaneHugo]

This city is never going to get an NBA team or NHL.

Don't know why we're even debating it.

MLS? Maybe but we're not even in the discussion for future teams like Sacramento or Vegas

[mello]

I think MLS is a great fit here and I have found the perfect location: Get Irwin Jacobs sons off their ass and convince the DOD to give up the 120 acres of flat land sitting behind the North City Water Reclamation plant on Miramar Rd.

I have never understood why this land is part of Mira Mar Air Station it is so prime and just sits there unused. It is right next to the 805 and very centrally located and closer to North County money so attendance should be high (MLS tickets are not cheap btw do a search and see). I am trying to post a screen shot of google maps to show you guys where this parcel is.

[Northparkwizard]

Non-basketball news, I dropped by the Cross-Border Terminal project in Otay which in nearly complete.

Meh.


Sorta looks like the entryway of a average South American hotel.


The actual unfinished cross-border bridge from the U.S. into Mexico looking south-east.


One of a kind for sure. Let's see if anyone uses it, if the flights are cheaper from Rodriguez i'll use it.

[mello]

^^ This is going to be huge, and hopefully open up San Diego to rich Mexico City residents looking to buy real estate here and fuel more vertical growth downtown. Spoke to a realtor in the gaslamp and he said hardly any Chinese, Russian, Korean buyers here they are all going to LA. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can attract foreigners with money to San Diego?

[HurricaneHugo]

View of downtown from Icon by Scott Murphy from Reddit:

https://i.imgur.com/jAlJ77t.jpg

It's starting to look like a real downtown!

[Northparkwizard]

Good news from SDBJ:

"MTS Receives $31.9 Million for New Courthouse Trolley Station, Light-Rail Vehicles

By Tarcy Connors
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) has been awarded $31.9 million from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP).

The MTS grant is one of only 14 projects in the state funded by the State of California’s 2015 and 2016 cap-and-trade budget. A total of $224 million is being allocated for the TIRCP.

The grant will be used to purchase eight new light rail vehicles to increase capacity on the MTS Trolley system, and for a new trolley station serving the 22-story San Diego Central Courthouse being built on C Street between State and Union streets. The proximity of the new station will provide convenient access to the 44,500 jobs expected to be within a half-mile walk by 2020.

“The addition of the light rail vehicles will ease overcrowding on the Trolley, making it more attractive and comfortable,” said MTS Chief Executive Officer Paul Jablonski. “And the new rail station will serve the expanding court complex, which is a major destination for employees and jurors.”

The Cap-and-Trade program was established via Assembly Bill 32 to collect fees from producers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The fees collected are then distributed to a variety of projects that will provide long-term reductions in GHG emissions. The addition of trolley cars will increase capacity on the MTS Blue and Orange Lines, thereby encouraging more trips via public transit instead of by car. The new downtown station will reduce train congestion at Santa Fe Depot, allowing for more trips on Trolley, COASTER and Amtrak from there, which can reduce trips in automobiles.

MTS expects to take delivery on the new Trolleys and begin construction on the new station by late 2017."

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by HurricaneHugo

View of downtown from Icon by Scott Murphy from Reddit:

https://i.imgur.com/jAlJ77t.jpg

It's starting to look like a real downtown!

Love this.

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by Northparkwizard

Sorta looks like the entryway of a average South American hotel.

Nailed it!

[embora]

Originally Posted by Northparkwizard

Good news from SDBJ:

"MTS Receives $31.9 Million for New Courthouse Trolley Station, Light-Rail Vehicles

By Tarcy Connors
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) has been awarded $31.9 million from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP).

Wow, that is very interesting. Thank you for sharing. Here are two articles on another transit-related story:

The synopsis is that a shuttle will take people from a shuttle stop a city block away from the Middletown Trolley to the Lindberg Field terminals, and back. There will be improvements to the pedestrian infrastructure between the shuttle stop and the trolley station.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...port-arriving/

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topic...for-commuters/

[Nerv]

Not to create any more debate but more for a historical perspective of San Diego's history with the NBA here's two really good articles for anyone interested on the subject.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cyrus-...b_7516026.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cyrus-...b_7614692.html

[Nerv]

Originally Posted by Northparkwizard

Good news from SDBJ:

"MTS Receives $31.9 Million for New Courthouse Trolley Station, Light-Rail Vehicles

By Tarcy Connors
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) has been awarded $31.9 million from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP).

The MTS grant is one of only 14 projects in the state funded by the State of California’s 2015 and 2016 cap-and-trade budget. A total of $224 million is being allocated for the TIRCP.

The grant will be used to purchase eight new light rail vehicles to increase capacity on the MTS Trolley system, and for a new trolley station serving the 22-story San Diego Central Courthouse being built on C Street between State and Union streets. The proximity of the new station will provide convenient access to the 44,500 jobs expected to be within a half-mile walk by 2020.

“The addition of the light rail vehicles will ease overcrowding on the Trolley, making it more attractive and comfortable,” said MTS Chief Executive Officer Paul Jablonski. “And the new rail station will serve the expanding court complex, which is a major destination for employees and jurors.”

The Cap-and-Trade program was established via Assembly Bill 32 to collect fees from producers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The fees collected are then distributed to a variety of projects that will provide long-term reductions in GHG emissions. The addition of trolley cars will increase capacity on the MTS Blue and Orange Lines, thereby encouraging more trips via public transit instead of by car. The new downtown station will reduce train congestion at Santa Fe Depot, allowing for more trips on Trolley, COASTER and Amtrak from there, which can reduce trips in automobiles.

MTS expects to take delivery on the new Trolleys and begin construction on the new station by late 2017."

The city wil also have the UTC link completed around 2019 (2016 start I believe).

Hopefully with the UTC line finally being put to "bed" they can focus on the trolley line to the airport and the streetcar line to balboa park that have been proposed.

[SDCAL]

Originally Posted by Nerv

The city wil also have the UTC link completed around 2019 (2016 start I believe).

Hopefully with the UTC line finally being put to "bed" they can focus on the trolley line to the airport and the streetcar line to balboa park that have been proposed.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the difference between a streetcar line and a trolley line?

They need a trolley line up Park to Hillcrest/North Park with a stop at Balboa Park on the way. It would be really inept planning to just put a line to Balboa Park without extending a stop up to the Hillcrest/North Park area.

[SDCAL]

Originally Posted by mello

^^ This is going to be huge, and hopefully open up San Diego to rich Mexico City residents looking to buy real estate here and fuel more vertical growth downtown. Spoke to a realtor in the gaslamp and he said hardly any Chinese, Russian, Korean buyers here they are all going to LA. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can attract foreigners with money to San Diego?

There are likely many reasons, but I think many come back to the fact that SD is not a first tier international city. One major glaring problem is the airport. Other than Tokyo and London, we have no direct flights overseas. Compare to LA, SF, Miami, NYC - the cities with the major international real estate investments. They have far better airports and while this may not seem like a big deal, if you're a Russian or Chinese national who wants to buy a luxury condo for offshore investment and plan to travel back and forth frequently, having a well connected airport is much more convenient. Another reason is that people like to purchase in areas where there are already networks of your home country. LA and SF already have large Chinese populations, Chinese language media, etc. NYC has large immigrant populations from all over the world, and Miami is a huge draw for Latin America. These cities also have consulates for many countries, while the only formal consulate in SD is the Mexican consulate in Little Italy. Don't get me wrong, SD is slowly changing. Walking around downtown I hear many people speaking Chinese, German, etc. The people are definitely coming here to visit, and I think eventually we may see some international investment in the downtown market but the city needs to reach out and advocate for this otherwise why would someone, for example, from China choose SD over LA to invest in when LA is so much more established as a hub for overseas Chinese with a large network in place. LA, SF, NYC, Miami have realtors and real estate agencies who specialize in overseas buyers and have networks in the home countries to recruit buyers. Don't think SD has anything like this yet.

I really think that if the Ritz Carlton Hotel/Condo project goes up with a Whole Foods there it will help with this regard. That's the type of high-end, high-profile project that elevates the profile of our city and attracts wealthy foreign investors.

[SDCAL]

Mello, you were asking about the height of whatever will be going up at 7th and Market. I found some documents on Civic SD that had Q&A and found this:

QUESTION: What are the minimum and maximum building heights for the sites?

RESPONSE: Each site must contain a building with a minimum height of 300 feet per the requirements of this RFQ/P. Buildings cannot exceed a maximum height of 500 feet above mean sea level, which is the FAA height limit for Downtown, resulting in maximum heights of approximately 440-450 feet above grade for the Park and Market site and 460-470 feet above grade for the Seventh and Market site. Please note that the Park and Market site is also subject to the Public Park Sun Access height limits shown in Figures F and M of the CCPDO.

I know we've spent a lot of time on this forum bitching about the FAA height limit downtown, but I have to vent again. We are going through a huge boom right now downtown, and we are beginning to build on key vacant lots. If nobody challenges this height limit I'm afraid our city will be permanently locked-in to this stubby plateau skyline.

[SDfan]

Originally Posted by SDCAL

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the difference between a streetcar line and a trolley line?

They need a trolley line up Park to Hillcrest/North Park with a stop at Balboa Park on the way. It would be really inept planning to just put a line to Balboa Park without extending a stop up to the Hillcrest/North Park area.

San Diego is home to inept planning, look at Mission Valley and think about that again, Lolz.

As for the difference, street cars tend to be smaller, shorter, allow for regular vehicle traffic to share lanes, and operate more like buses than trains. Whereas the trolley in San Diego is light rail, which has exclusive dedicated lanes, platform stations, and are larger and longer overall. Streetcars would be ideal in places like the uptown neighborhoods because they would be less impactful on surface streets and thoroughfares.

I have to speculate though, and say, I can't imagine light rail being approved on University Ave or El Cajon Blvd, unless they're placed underground. They just killed bike lanes in University over parking, and nixed dedicated bus lanes on El Cajon Blvd over the same reason, - imagine SANDAG trying to convince community planners to get rid of even more space for light rail. Plus the fight over the overhead electricity lines would be epic. In a city where aesthetics are king... yikes.

Also, here is a pic of a typical, modern streetcar:


In comparison to our "trolley" (light rail):


Not a seemingly huge difference, but substantial nonetheless.

[mello]

SDCAL: good explanation about foreign buyers and obviously Toronto is the market of choice for Indians who are becoming a huge player in real estate as well. You would think an RE agency locally would try to hire mandarin or Russian speakers to begin to chip away at LA and bring people a bit south.

FAA: what is the deal with "mean sea level" that is draconian horse shit that Faulconer and developers should fight. You mean we can't even build a damn 500 foot tower you have to lop off the measily 40 feet above the bay where 7th and Market sits come on... This is so frustrating. Market st. is well south of the flight path a true 600 ft structure there would be absolutely no hazard to incoming aircraft.

[Nerv]

Based on what I've seen the airport line would be a trolley extension where as MTS is looking in to something along the current silver line street car we have in the city right now for Balboa Park.


My experience with both sandag and MTS is they try a listen to the communities concerns and fix what they can but in the end they do what they feel is best for the cities transit system regardless.

The original Coaster line is a good example of cities not getting everything they wanted and in the case of Del Mar they got exactly what they were asking for along with the middle finger from sandag who turns up a deaf ear every time the thought of a transit station being returned to Del Mar is brought up. Lol


The widening of the 5 to Oceanside is one of the better examples of sandag telling the communities something's going to happen so pick your options. That doesn't always happen and I give them kudos for allowing that much involvement from the locals (even though they haven't finished much of it yet).


Either way both would be smart projects in my mind. I'm surprised we don't already have lines like these to two key areas of the city.

[Nerv]

Originally Posted by SDfan

San Diego is home to inept planning, look at Mission Valley and think about that again, Lolz.

As for the difference, street cars tend to be smaller, shorter, allow for regular vehicle traffic to share lanes, and operate more like buses than trains. Whereas the trolley in San Diego is light rail, which has exclusive dedicated lanes, platform stations, and are larger and longer overall. Streetcars would be ideal in places like the uptown neighborhoods because they would be less impactful on surface streets and thoroughfares.

I have to speculate though, and say, I can't imagine light rail being approved on University Ave or El Cajon Blvd, unless they're placed underground. They just killed bike lanes in University over parking, and nixed dedicated bus lanes on El Cajon Blvd over the same reason, - imagine SANDAG trying to convince community planners to get rid of even more space for light rail. Plus the fight over the overhead electricity lines would be epic. In a city where aesthetics are king... yikes.

Also, here is a pic of a typical, modern streetcar:


In comparison to our "trolley" (light rail):


Not a seemingly huge difference, but substantial nonetheless.

I would add there is a look and feel in difference when riding the two (OK, that's just my opinion)


When I've taken the trolley I have a bit of that euro feel of getting from point A to B.

Those silver line street cars (we have two different ones now) are a sweet ride in the past and a great way to spend a lazy afternoon in the city. I really hope they continue to add more cars and expand the line.

Then of coarse we do have real trains with the Coaster and Sprinter if that's your cup of tea....