flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

The next boomtown? Construction and redevelopment sizzle in San Diego

Urban Planning

The next boomtown? Construction and redevelopment sizzle in San Diego

Emission-reduction plan could drive influx into downtown


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | January 4, 2016

San Diego's skyline is being transformed by new office, hotel, and residential building projects. Photo courtesy Pixabay

Bosa Development is all in on San Diego. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based developer has been leading the latest construction boom in this southern California market, where Civic San Diego, the downtown planning agency, reports there are more than 63 projects valued at over $6.4 billion being constructed, approved, or under review.

Bosa Development, which completed seven buildings in San Diego over the past 15 years, has another eight buildings planned for construction or redevelopment in the next decade. Last month, Bosa acquired two building sites in downtown San Diego for $42.6 million, on which it plans to build up to 800 condos.

“San Diego is getting ready to pop,” Nat Bosa, the developer’s founder, told the San Diego Union Tribune recently. Indeed, in 2015 alone, developers completed 1,248 apartments, and another 8,106 are in the works, according to Civic San Diego.

Bosa Development was one of the real estate developers behind Rethink Downtown, a free public exhibit that opened last September to highlight the city’s history and culture.

San Diego’s urban core has actually been growing for quite some time. The number of people living downtown almost doubled between the years 2000 and 2013, according to the San Diego Association of Governments.

The city’s construction boom isn’t confined to multifamily, either. The giant retail developer Westfield recently announced plans for its 30-year-old Horton Plaza shopping mall. An adjacent park, which Westfield will manage, is scheduled to open in March, and the developer is considering changes to the mall that range from cosmetic fix-ups to major demolition and replacements.

Last fall, UC San Diego broke ground on a $150 million, 154,000-sf outpatient pavilion that will be build on the university’s health sciences campus in La Jolla, Calif. CO Architects designed the pavilion, which will help serve the Jacobs Medical Center, a $859 million collection of specialty hospitals that opens this year.

All of this construction and redevelopment activity is being conducted against the backdrop of a commitment that San Diego’s Mayor Kevin Faulconer made late last year to cut the city’s carbon emissions in half by 2035. To achieve this goal, the city needs to get more people and businesses to move into established neighborhoods, which will mean greater support for urban housing, an expansion of public transit, and access to renewable energy sources.

Without this commitment, the city might have been facing litigation because its environmental plan lacked sufficient enforcement measures. Faulconer’s plan calls for the city to cut total greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent by 2020 and 49 percent by 2035, based on its emission level from 2010. The plan includes a goal to reach 100% renewable energy by 2035, with an emphasis on local sources, according to Voice of San Diego’s website. And Faulconer envisions more than 60% of San Diego residents walking, riding their bikes, or taking public transit to work by 2035, compared to fewer than 10% in 2010.

Among the construction projects nearing completion in San Diego are a dual-hotel building at Lane Field at the foot of Broadway; a $555.5 million state courthouse, with 22 stories and 71 courtrooms within 704,000 sf, which should be finished this fall; and a 41-story luxury waterfront condo tower called Pacific Gate, another Bosa development that was designed by Kohn Fox Pedersen. Bosa has retained Engel & Völkers Scottsdale to market Pacific Gate, whose condo prices start at $1.4 million.

Related Stories

Healthcare Facilities | May 6, 2024

Hospital construction costs for 2024

Data from Gordian breaks down the average cost per square foot for a three-story hospital across 10 U.S. cities.

MFPRO+ Special Reports | May 6, 2024

Top 10 trends in affordable housing

Among affordable housing developers today, there’s one commonality tying projects together: uncertainty. AEC firms share their latest insights and philosophies on the future of affordable housing in BD+C's 2023 Multifamily Annual Report.

Retail Centers | May 3, 2024

Outside Las Vegas, two unused office buildings will be turned into an open-air retail development

In Henderson, Nev., a city roughly 15 miles southeast of Las Vegas, 100,000 sf of unused office space will be turned into an open-air retail development called The Cliff. The $30 million adaptive reuse development will convert the site’s two office buildings into a destination for retail stores, chef-driven restaurants, and community entertainment.

Codes and Standards | May 3, 2024

New York City considering bill to prevent building collapses

The New York City Council is considering a proposed law with the goal of preventing building collapses. The Billingsley Structural Integrity Act is a response to the collapse of 1915 Billingsley Terrace in the Bronx last December. 

Student Housing | May 3, 2024

Student housing construction dips in the first quarter of 2024

Investment in college dorms dipped slightly in the first quarter of 2024, but remains higher than a year ago.

Contractors | May 1, 2024

Nonresidential construction spending rises 0.2% in March 2024 to $1.19 trillion

National nonresidential construction spending increased 0.2% in March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.19 trillion.

K-12 Schools | Apr 30, 2024

Fully electric Oregon elementary school aims for resilience with microgrid design

The River Grove Elementary School in Oregon was designed for net-zero carbon and resiliency to seismic events, storms, and wildfire. The roughly 82,000-sf school in a Portland suburb will feature a microgrid—a small-scale power grid that operates independently from the area’s electric grid. 

AEC Tech | Apr 30, 2024

Lack of organizational readiness is biggest hurdle to artificial intelligence adoption

Managers of companies in the industrial sector, including construction, have bought the hype of artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative technology, but their organizations are not ready to realize its promise, according to research from IFS, a global cloud enterprise software company. An IFS survey of 1,700 senior decision-makers found that 84% of executives anticipate massive organizational benefits from AI. 

Codes and Standards | Apr 30, 2024

Updated document details methods of testing fenestration for exterior walls

The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) updated a document serving a recommended practice for determining test methodology for laboratory and field testing of exterior wall systems. The document pertains to products covered by an AAMA standard such as curtain walls, storefronts, window walls, and sloped glazing. AAMA 501-24, Methods of Test for Exterior Walls was last updated in 2015. 

MFPRO+ News | Apr 29, 2024

World’s largest 3D printer could create entire neighborhoods

The University of Maine recently unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer said to be able to create entire neighborhoods. The machine is four times larger than a preceding model that was first tested in 2019. The older model was used to create a 600 sf single-family home made of recyclable wood fiber and bio-resin materials.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category

Multifamily Housing

AEC inspections are the key to financially viable office to residential adaptive reuse projects

About a year ago our industry was abuzz with an idea that seemed like a one-shot miracle cure for both the shockingly high rate of office vacancies and the worsening housing shortage. The seemingly simple idea of converting empty office buildings to multifamily residential seemed like an easy and elegant solution. However, in the intervening months we’ve seen only a handful of these conversions, despite near universal enthusiasm for the concept. 




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021