For small business owners, making a living in downtown San Diego can be a big challenge.
High rents and parking issues go with the territory -- and now, more and more, urban renewal figures into the equation.
Progress can’t be stopped, and those in the path of it are obliged to make new starts elsewhere.
"You've got to ride the wave or get sucked up by it," says Anthony Farmer, a native New Yorker, Navy veteran and fitness trainer who practices his trade in "The Lab," a 35,000 square foot workout space on 15th Street in East Village.
"Being from the city, you see it all the time," Farmer said in an interview Tuesday. "It's what happened to Manhattan. It's what happened to Brooklyn. It's going to happen to the Bronx. And East Village is just one of those cities that you can chalk up."
The old warehouse district where Farmer has set up shop for the last couple of years is giving way to high-rise buildings and homes of an upscale urban neighborhood.
He’s operating under the shadow of civic progress -- hanging tough on a month-to-month lease, pushing a women-with-toddlers clientele through "Mommy & Me" workouts.
The Lab occupies part of the site of a soon-to-be built, 29-story residential tower called "Streetlights Makers Quarter" -- the first outpost of a five-block, billion-dollar redevelopment project by the Jerome's Furniture family.
The developers, Lankford & Associates, are looking to turn East Village into a high-tech business and jobs epicenter.
Farmer's business eventually will have to go.
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“I was talking about it with my wife today,” he noted, “and I'm going to miss being downtown.”
As he seeks and finds new premises for The Lab, Farmer’s clientele will face decisions of their own.
But most seem inclined to follow him to where he winds up.
“I live in the South Bay so honestly, I'm used to commuting,” says Diana Verissimo, who lives in Bonita. “Even if he goes to Point Loma, or the State area or wherever.”
She quickly added, with a laugh: “As long as it's not Del Mar."
As for the high-rise building, it comes up for approval by Civic San Diego's board of directors next week.
Stacey Lankford Pennington, an overseer of the project, tells NBC 7 the Makers Square venture is working to create a real spirt of community in the fast-gentrifying neighborhood that East Village has become -- not just a commercial success.
The Streetlights tower is planned for 291 dwelling units and 22,000-square feet of commercial space -- space that'll be anything but affordable for Anthony Farmer.
“But I'm not mad, not mad, “ he insists. “Just a little sad. Not upset. Just a little sad."
