Ready or not, East Village is getting another huge building project – which itself will dwarf the Padres’ “friendly confines.” NBC 7’s Gene Cubbison has the rundown.
For all the money changing hands around Petco Park as the Padres opened the season’s first homestand Thursday, it eventually will be dwarfed by the spending on vacant property across the street.
Ready or not, East Village is getting another huge building project – which itself will dwarf the Padres’ “friendly confines.”
Ever since Petco Park opened in 2004, the Padres have had no close neighbors to the east in East Village.
That's about to change, big time. A quarter of a billion bucks says so.
That money is going to the construction of Ballpark Village, a mixed-use complex that’ll tower 37 stories – 400 feet -- for part of its three-block expanse and cast a long morning shadow over the Friars’ ballyard.
The project, for which groundbreaking is scheduled late next week, will occupy a triangular four-acre parcel roughly bounded by Park Boulevard, Imperial Avenue, 12th Avenue and Library Circle.
It’ll encompass 720 apartment units (27 of them “affordable”), 300,000 square feet of office and commercial floor space, 115,000 feet of retail space, a public plaza and linear park -- plus underground parking for 1,200 vehicles.
Charleston-based Greystar -- the new owners taking over for San Diego’s JMI Realty, which built Petco Park -- also will kick in $4 million to help pay off the $27 million cost of the nearby Harbor Drive Pedestrian bridge.
The first occupancies in Ballpark Village are expected by mid-2017.
Reaction among East Village locals and Padres fans swarming the neighborhood mostly tended toward excitement, tempered with some skepticism.
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"If you look at what happened here with Petco coming in, and leverage that thought process and how well it's helped develop the downtown area, it can only help,” said Carlsbad resident Michael Petracca, who was there to watch the Padres-Giants matchup. “And you know, revitalization's important. All the cities are doing it."
La Mesa resident Kathi Lemley also saw more upside than downside: "I think it's going to be positive and good for the community, good for the Padres. If I could afford it, I'd move down here too."
Like-minded folks who can afford it may be persuaded to move there sooner rather than later because work on undeveloped property in East Village is starting to accelerate.
Right now, the market for condo sales is still iffy, and renters among a youngish demographic of downtown residents can be fickle and mobile.
On the flip side, for developers?
"With all the vacancies in other buildings downtown, that's kind of concerning,” noted Kristyn Bruning, who lives and works in East Village. “It's not like we're over-packed and need a lot of housing right now, but potentially in a few years maybe. But I think it's going to take a lot of time to fill."
Bruning’s friend and colleague Alex Hanks added this observation: "I think it's impressive but I don't know if it's needed. I feel like there's a lot of apartments, condo living in downtown in downtown San Diego. It sounds like an extravagent project, though."
A Padres fan from Rancho Bernardo, the city’s northernmost suburb, offered concerns about the densification and gentrification of East Village.
"I wouldn't mind it so much if we're centralizing the convention center, the Chargers and the Padres,” Kevin White told NBC 7. “But not high-value hotels, townhomes. It should be for all of San Diego's people to come here."
On Tuesday, the city council will vote on the transfer of development rights from JMI to Greystar.
As it turns out, there's an option to build on three more acres nearby.
Previous plans in better economic times have envisioned a 1,600-room Marriott Hotel there -- predicated on eventual expansion of the convention center.
