Mark Mills - Downtown San Diego Condo Expert

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.

Everyone condo shopper in San Diego wants their new condo to have a view, that’s a given, but what type of view is considered the best view? To most people a view of the San Diego bay (water view) is ideal with a city view a distant second place. One thing savvy buyers also take into consideration is the possibility of the view being blocked in the future. There are various types of water views and city views and the demand for the various views may surprise you.

First lets explore the water views. Some water views are limited to the San Diego Bay, while others if high enough will also have a view of the Pacific Ocean. Depending on where the building is in downtown San Diego, your view will vary dramatically depending on which floor you are on. If for example you are in the Marina District facing South, you will need to be on the 10th floor or higher to have a view of the water over the convention center. The buildings in the Marina District this applies to are the Horizons condos, Pinnacle condos, Cityfront Terrace condos, Renaissance condos and the Harbor Club condos.

In the Marina District and Columbia District buildings facing West these all have unobstructed water views now from anything but the lowest floors. However, that western water view will change dramatically over the next 10 years. The buildings that will be affected include, Pinnacle, Renaissance, Park Place, Electra, Grande Bayside condos. The western waterfront will undergo a massive construction project that will include several hotels, office buildings, etc that will obstruct the current unobstructed water views. However, there will still be view corridors as there currently are regarding the Southern water view (between the four hotels along the water). So in the end the western water views will be similar to the current southern water views.

What about city views? Almost every high rise condo building in downtown San Diego that has a great water view will also have great city views looking east. Be careful when picking out a unit as some buildings are so close that your view is obstructed by the building across the street. These are the hardest units to sell because everyone looking in a high rise building wants a great view so the discount you see on the price today relative to the prime view units will also be experienced when you go to sell the unit.

This leads me to the last category, what about buildings with both a great water view and a great city view. In choosing a condo in San Diego that has both views you need to be very careful because these buildings are often located in the middle of the city with the risk of more buildings blocking their water views. Fortunately there are very view lots left to build a high rise condo building on and those have already been spoken for and artist renderings are available for the future building. So there is not much mystery there, perhaps the only mystery is when will it actually get built.

Getting back to naming names, the buildings with the best water and city views from the same unit (not say a west facing unit and an east facing unit, but one unit) are The Mark Condominiums in the East Village. This also has one huge, huge bonus, a view directly in the playing field at Petco Park where the San Diego Padres play baseball. You have to be on roughly the 20th floor & up to get that view into the playing field. Another great choice of water and city views is the Electra condos, primarily the SE corner units.

In summary, here are the best buildings to buy a condo in San Diego if you want a great view in order. This list was written in 2009 but with a long term view out the next 10 years after future construction is built up.
1. The Metropolitan condos (unobstructed views of bay, ocean and city, even low floors).
2. The Mark condos (water, city and ballpark).
3. Bayside condos Unobsructed bay views from even the low floors.
4. Harbor Club condos (unobstructed water views, 10th floor & up).
5. Mi Arbolito condos (built at the highest elevation of all condos, 360 degree views of Balboa Park, Bay, City and Mountains).