Mark Mills - Downtown San Diego Condo Expert

If your like me when you shopped for your last car you looked online for reviews of the car and maybe even went to the book store and looked at magazines such as Car and Driver to find out what cars other drivers like and why.  For most people a car is a big purchase and they want to make sure they know what they are buying in terms of the quality of the car, how it handles on the road and what to expect when owing one.   

When I became a Realtor with the goal of helping condo buyers pick the perfect condo for them I thought to myself I can only know so much not having lived in the buildings I was selling.  I thought my condo buying clients would appreciate and value being able to hear directly from the condo owners what it was like to live in their building.   So the idea was born, figure out a way to get San Diego condos ratings and reviews.

The only way I could get the condo owners to provide a review of their building was to survey them.  As much as I wanted to do this on line, there is no way to know how to contact the owners via email and a website function where people can add comments could not limit the comments exclusively to owners.  Its very important to ensure the people providing these condo reviews were in fact the owners.  This meant the direct mail method was the best method of ensuring only the owners would be providing condo rating and review information.   

So many years ago when I started by real estate career at RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants I decided to provide clients with the most educational information I could about the condos they were thinking of buying.  To date about 7,000 surveys have been mailed out to owners of condos in downtown San Diego, with 1,500 of them going out this week to condos that were sold out about a year or so ago.  I thoroughly enjoy reading the survey results that come back as it enlightens me and helps me and my condo shopping clients pick the building that's best for them.  

 

 

It seems like only a month or two ago I tweeted about the inventory of condos for sale in downtown San Diego had dropped below 500. I checked it today and were at 459. Its becoming clearer and clearer that the bottom of the market is behind us. The market for condos under $350K is the most competitive right now with multiple offers on all the good units, often selling for more than the asking price.
There are some who predict we will have a W shaped recovery. Maybe I dont know. What I do know is that the developers have stopped building condos in downtown and even when they start there are very view prime lots left to build on. There are a lot of lots to build on, but what we have seen is that a bad location can kill the sales of a decent quality building. Just look at Vantage Pointe condos and Smart Corner condos, both high rises, moderately priced, but very few buyers prefer these locations. Because of that, Smart Corner is soon to be holding an auction to sell their units. You know the old saying in real estate, its all about location, location, location.

New to the San Diego condo market is a mid rise building named Aloft, located in the Cortez Hill neighborhood of downtown San Diego. This building has 179 units ranging from about 600 - 1,200 sf. Asking prices now range from $299K - $700K. They have a lot of unique floor plans, some two stories. For a mid rise building in downtown they have very good amenities, lap pool, hot tub, large sand filled sunning deck with cabanas, fire pit, BBQ etc. Aloft condos also have an onsite fitness center. Photos and more about Aloft condos in the Cortez Hill neighborhood of downtown San Diego

For those who know downtown San Diego neighborhoods, most would argue the Marina District is the most desirable. There are some arguments against it but I’ll save that for another article. There are many reasons why the Marina District is such a desirable neighborhood downtown San Diego.

First lets start with its location, surrounded by the Gaslamp District on one side and the Marina on the other, its hard to find two better neighbors than that. So if you live in the Marina District you are only steps away from the many retail establishments and restaurants of the Gaslamp District as well as steps away from the shopping mall at Horton Plaza. Walking west in the neighborhood will take you to Seaport Village and its surrounding marina. Also worth mentioning is the huge 30 foot sidewalk along the waters edge. There is not a lot of retail stores or restaurants right in the middle of the Marina District where most of the condos are. This means you can have your peace and quiet at night after some fine dining in the Gaslamp or a night out at one of several nearby theaters (live shows and movies).

After deciding the Marina District is where you want to live how do you go about picking out the right condo building? Do you need to have be rich to live in the Marina District, the answer is no, you can buy a condo in the Marina District for as little as $200,000. If you have an unlimited budget, you will find condos up to $10,000,000. There are many choices in condo buildings, from mid-rise to high-rise, from no service/amenities to full service/amenities.

Having been in all of the Marina District condos, here is how I would rank the to five buildings in terms of desirability for the average condo shopper.
1. Pinnacle Condos
2. Park Place Condos
3. Renaissance Condos
4. Horizons Condos
5. Watermark Condos
Here is my reasoning for the above:
Pinnacle condos are the newest building in the Marina District, its also the tallest and has relatively the highest level of standard finishes in each unit. There are some amazing views from the upper units.
Park Place condos are located in the SW corner of the Marina District. Many of these condos have unobstructed views of the bay and great city views. It’s the closest condo building to Seaport Village.
Renaissance condos are super centrally located, across the street from the mall and a major grocery store. Its two twin towers are a good landmark as each tower cantilevers out on the South side giving each floor up and extra six inches in width.
Horizons condos are another great choice for unobstructed views of the bay from the South facing units. It was built by BOSA, their first condo in San Diego, having built about 7 since then.
The Watermark condos are a boutique style building with low HOA fees. It’s a midrise of only four residential floors. The units tend to be larger than most of the new buildings having been built in the early 1990s’.

There are about ten other condo buildings in the Marina District of downtown San Diego.

There is a new leash free dog park in downtown San Diego, at the intersection of Market Street and Park Boulevard. Its something the dogs of downtown and their owners have requested for a long time. Finally the city gets into gear and promises to build a temporary one with a permanent one even more years into the future.

So are the dogs and residents happy about the first leash free dog park in downtown San Diego. The answer is a big NO. Sure maybe it’s not in the most central location to the dogs condos but there is one shocking detail that makes the park a big failure no matter where they build it. That shocking detail is the park will have no grass and instead have a surface made of GRAVEL. Can you imagine, any dog I know tries to avoid gravel because of its instability and little pebbles getting caught between their toes.

Leash free dog parks are meant for dogs to play in which includes running around. Have you ever tried to make a sharp turn while running on gravel, its just not smart and the poor dog that slips and falls could have the city pleading for mercy in court. The city can easily install a grass base before they become dumfounded as to why every one asked for a dog park and is now not using it.

I have been to many of dog parks up and down the west coast from Seattle to San Diego, I have never seen one with a base of just gravel. I have heard they exist and think that any city that has a gravel base is simply too lazy to care and too cheap to maintain the grass. San Diego city is not short of money its short of people who know how to spend it wisely. The downtown lease free dog park is recognized by the city staff as an immediate need based on various meetings they have had regarding downtown residents issues.

Ok, so the gravel is a mistake might as well mention another mistake while were at it since they are planning a permanent lease free park somewhere in downtown. Let’s talk about the location, Park and Market in the East Village is not exactly a densely populated part of downtown like say the Marina, Little Italy or Cortez Hill. The city does have some vacant land options in the Marina and one more centrally located in Gaslamp District. I would like to see the lease free park in the Gaslamp on the last surface parking lot left. It’s only temporarily a parking lot till the owner flips it in the next real estate up cycle. The city even helped him expand his parking lot with its imminent domain powers kicking out a coffee shop on the corner. Now we have the eye sore of a parking lot in the Gaslamp for five years since the imminent domain and probably several more years till the owner can find a buyer (5th and J streets). Sure the owner had plans to build a hotel there, but while he is waiting it’s the perfect place to put downtowns temporary leash free dog park.

The Marina location is on Front and Island streets, another site with future development plans but no near terms plans with could accommodate a dog park.

If you have any comments on the temporary dog park in downtown San Diego or want me to pass along any comments to the Center City Development Corporation (CCDC) please post a comment to this article.