San Diego Metropolitan - The Luxuries Of Downtown Housing

Living at the Grande at Santa Fe Place, one of the poshest urban condos available, entitles residents to amenities such as 24-hour concierge service, an 83-foot pool with hot tub and wet bar, full fitness center and party room with a full kitchen. The homeowner’s association fee for such full-service care runs $600 to $700 a month. At the Renaissance, another luxury project, fees run from $650 to $720 a month and include pool, spa, fitness center, fire pit and reading room.

Realtor Mike Althof, who works through Prudential California Realty and primarily sells Downtown, divides prospective urban residents into groups with distinct desires. First-time buyers, usually in their 20s or 30s, are looking for low association fees. To meet a budget, they are willing to give up some, but not all, amenities. The bare bones package acceptable to this group is space for entertaining, either balconies or common areas. And they will sometimes go a bit higher. “A fee that pays for a fitness room is acceptable because they can forfeit belonging to a fitness club,” notes Althof.

Second home buyers are coming from a larger home and with more change in their pockets. They want classy outdoor entertaining space, rooftop gardens and a state-of-the-art fitness center, so they can have their personal trainer come to them.

Sometimes what they seek is inside the unit. “Pools and spas aren’t hot, but large closets are,” Althof says. “Anything that saves these people from going somewhere is good. Being able to drop laundry at the front desk and a bank teller and coffee shop in the lobby are good. These people want to take as much from the suburbs as they can.”

Valet parking is not a big deal; guest parking is. Security is critical.

An ample menu of builder-maintained amenities also fits well with the desires of retirees who are moving out of a big suburban home. Sometimes referred to as the “lock and leave” crowd, these residents want to head off on a moment’s notice to vacation or see far-from-home children, and to do so without worrying that everything won’t be perfect when they return.

On the other side of the amenity coin is developer Kevin De Freitas, whose three-story concrete tilt-up homes are no longer possible Downtown because too few can be built on a lot. His projects, like Row Homes on F, contain three inches of air space between each unit so they can be classified as single family homes.

At Row Homes on F, De Freitas provides owners a security gate, landscaping and lighting, along with a contract with the Downtown Partnership’s clean and safe program to have the alley access regularly power washed. He also offers probably the lowest fees of any project: $81 per quarter. That payment includes a unique bonus: if the security gate breaks down, the developer personally hustles over to get it working.