Not much has changed inside the Waterfront Bar, a popular watering hole in Little Italy. But in the past few months, just about everything around it has. Shabby buildings on both sides were torn down. The framework of a new residential development rose up around it.
    During the hullabaloo, the Waterfront stayed open for business, its patrons enduring the sound of heavy machinery, the hammering and the dust. "We had to wipe the tables down every five minutes," recalls bartender Amie Bunch, adding that the usual crowds came despite the construction.
    The bar — with a figure of a yellow-slickered fisherman standing atop its red façade and neighborhood-friendly windows opening onto the sidewalk — is emerging as the centerpiece for a complex of 42 loft apartments at Kettner Boulevard and Hawthorn Street.
    And although the Waterfront project is one of the more unusual new developments in Little Italy, it is hardly the only one. Little Italy, covering roughly 50 blocks on the northern edge of Downtown, is in the midst of a Renaissance. A pleasant urban neighborhood of immigrant cottages, Italian restaurants, cafes, shops and offices on the gentle hills rolling down to San Diego Bay, Little Italy's growth wave is adding stylish apartments and condos. Many enjoy views of the harbor.
    Jonathan Segal, architect and developer of the surrounding Waterfront project, is one of the busiest builders in Little Italy. He has broken ground for 31 apartment units on the northeast corner of Cedar Street and Kettner Boulevard. Three other Segal-designed attached single-family homes are under construction at the southwest corner of State and Cedar streets.
    Meanwhile, grading has been completed for Village Walk, a 77-unit condominium. The development, planned by Olson Cos. and designed by Martinez and Cutri Architects, will include retail space around a common courtyard.
    Work also is under way on Columbia/Elm Lofts, a 21-unit, six-story apartment project designed by architect Jim Engelke.
    Near the County Administration Center, Barone, Galasso & Associates recently completed a 121-suite Marriott Residence Inn on the east side of Pacific Highway.
    The Centre City Development Corp. continues to play a big role in Little Italy's revival. The agency is savoring its success in attracting a series of residential proposals for the block bounded by Kettner, India, Beech and Cedar streets. Three of the four projects are finished: Jonathan Segal's 16-unit Kettner Rowhomes, the 12-unit Beech Street Lofts by Ted Smith & Others, and Villa Maria, 37 low- and moderate-income apartments designed by Rob Wellington Quigley Associates and developed by Barone, Galasso & Associates. The final phase — six residential units plus retail space — will begin construction soon.
    CCDC is trying a similar approach for a 15,000-square-foot site the redevelopment agency owns at the corner of Cedar and India streets. A request for proposals netted CCDC five potential projects.
    This month, CCDC is scheduled to start improving India Street, Little Italy's commercial zone. The $1 million effort includes replacing old sidewalks, curbs and gutters, planting trees and adding street lights and parking spaces.
    Marco LiMandri, executive director of the Little Italy Association, says the roots of the current boom go back three years when a Business Improvement District was organized for Little Italy. A vision began to take shape and a belief that Little Italy could become a unique and desirable address for urban dwellers, including families. It is one of only a handful of Italian neighborhoods in America and may become the prettiest.
    "We have all the elements of a real neighborhood," says LiMandri, noting that Little Italy has two elementary schools, a church, a park and a trolley stop next to the bay.
    And while Little Italy traditionally offered affordable housing, LiMandri says the new development is creating market-rate housing and a much-needed new supply of retail space. "It’s starting to accelerate," he says.

— Lynne Carrier