Work Commences on San Diego High-Rise Condo

Last month, Hensel Phelps Construction began foundation work on a $155 million, 32-story mixed-use residential project in San Diego's East Village.

A small army of cement trucks spent more than 12 hours circling the site of The Mark, pumping 7,000 cubic yards of concrete into the 60,000-sf excavated site (above, right). The resulting three-foot-thick mat will serve as the base for a three-level, below-grade parking garage and the 380-foot-tall, steel-and-glass tower (above, left).

Located two blocks north of Petco Park (see related story, p. 49), The Mark will be the tallest building in the city's booming East Village neighborhood when completed in early 2007. The condo tower will house 11 townhomes and 8,000 sf of retail space at street level, topped by 244 one- and two-bedroom units and 13 penthouses. Prices range from $300,000 to more than $3 million for the penthouses, according to local developer Douglas Wilson Companies.

The design team of Shears Adkins Architects, Denver, and Martinez + Cutri, San Diego, created 53 floor plan configurations for the tower, ranging in size from 800 sf to 3,500 sf.