Sherm Harmer, chair of the Downtown Residential Master Marketing Program, says younger couples are moving Downtown and that means more babies. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Sounds of small children playing are beginning to echo between Downtown’s high-rise buildings where most of the residents are empty nesters and young professionals. Families are moving in, the demographics are changing and the trend seems irreversible. “We are getting younger couples,” says Sherm Harmer, chair of the Downtown Residential Master Marketing Program, “and since nobody’s outlawed sex, we’re going to see babies.”

It is not by marketing or design that the number of children in the 92101 ZIP Code has grown from 1,460 in 2000 to 2,284 in 2004. Growing numbers of families are looking to live Downtown despite their needs not being the main concern to developers and the school district doing little to accommodate growing enrollment in an area known for expensive land. These pioneers are paving the way, blazing a trail ahead of the development curve.

“(Developers) have to build universal product,” Harmer says, meaning accommodating an empty-nester from Rancho Bernardo or a young attorney looking to walk to work. More bedrooms are the draw for families, an amenity too pricey for most in the tight urban market.

Still, they come.

Andrew Hoffman and wife Kathy with sons Sean, left, and Alex, escaped ‘dotted-line living’ to move into a row house in the Cortez Hill area. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Andrew Hoffman moved his family Downtown about three and a half years ago after living in Scripps Ranch for almost 10 years. He and his wife have two boys, ages 12 and 10, they live in a rowhouse in the Cortez Hill area. “We are probably not typical,” Hoffman says. “We found ourselves leaving Scripps all the time to go places and it was half an hour to everywhere. The children were not turned on by their school.”

The Hoffmans tired of what they call “dotted-line living.” “You go here and there with everything predirected in terms of activities,” he explains. “A lot of people today like that structured environment, but we weren’t so crazy about it. Our kids were not flourishing and as adults we were frustrated. We had a nice home, nice yard, but we felt like we were treading water as a life. It wasn’t very exciting.”

The Hoffman’s search for excitement led them Downtown. Not crazy about high-rise living and not willing to live in an apartment, they found a three-story rowhome at Soleil Court.

The Family Housing Conundrum

Keith Fernandez, is president of Intracorp, and a veteran Downtown builder. His company is averaging one young family with a newborn per project. “The challenge we have is creating three-bedrooms,” he says. “If you look at the price of land and then the price of construction, to build a three-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot unit, the thing is going to (sell) for a million and a half. So we are going smaller to ensure we are providing a target in the widest range of the market. If we are attracting families, they are younger and opting to move into a two-bedroom unit.”

Downtown’s families also face a shortage of recreation areas. “We don’t have enough kids to do playgrounds in a particular project when you have three children in 100 units,” Harmer says. But the builders are turning out common areas that serve multiple purposes. “Most builders create nice, open spaces,” says Harmer. “It’s not just about kids, it’s about grandkids.” Harmer’s adult son lives Downtown in Little Italy with his wife, a 4-year-old and a 4-month-old. Both children attend Harborside Charter School and Grandpa loves to take them out to play.

Children are not without green space, with 47 acres of parks that include the grassy knolls and water features at the Children’s Park, the grassy expanse at Pantoja Park and the Park at the Park behind Petco Park. Enterprising moms with strollers are finding play space, and the Embarcadero parks and Balboa Park are easily accessible. On the immediate horizon are 45 acres of new parks, including North Embarcadero Esplanade, Park-to-Bay Link and County Administration Center Open Space. Longer term, the Centre City Development Corp. has seven other parks in the planning stages in the next 10 years at a cost of $218 million.

Harmer says there are about $3 billion of new homes under way with about $1 billion of public infrastructure. “A lot of that is very accommodating to family and pets,” he says. “That includes the new park systems, the North Embarcadero improvements, the remodeling and expansion of Seaport Village and the Bay-to-Park Link. It is pretty remarkable. One of our initiatives is to make sure we’ve extended Downtown in a positive way so it’s easy for people to live in East Village and get to Balboa Park.”

Learning For Tomorrow

Along with parks and open space, new families are concerned about education.

Downtown’s public schools offer one elementary and one high school to go with several charter and private schools that new residents seem to favor. Developers want to see a new public school. “We as home builders have been concerned that the school district has been insensitive,” Harmer says. “Through July of this year, we will have paid more than $34 million in school fees for all the new homes built in the last five years. To our knowledge, the school district has not acquired any land Downtown to plan for the future. We plan on meeting with the school board this summer and voicing our concerns. Because land is getting so expensive, we think they need to plan ahead. Many years ago we encouraged CCDC to help remodel Washington Elementary School and they put $7 million into it. The school has done well, although it lost enrollment.”

Stephen Edele, head of the private Harborside School, says in the last year and a half, more children who live Downtown have enrolled. “It’s not overwhelming, but we are hoping the trend continues,” he says. About 10 percent of the school’s population lives in the 92101 and 92102 ZIP code. “There is a lot to be said about urban Downtown life, Edele says. “If the city remains committed, (Downtown family living) could really take off. San Diego has more potential than most because it is clean and there is a lot to do.” He should know. Edele has lived in Philadelphia and New York. “San Diego is quieter, safer and cleaner. But education remains a huge problem. The city has to get on the ball. Education is a critical factor to draw families.”

The school district is watching Downtown and expects to meet soon with CCDC planners. District data shows that since fall of 1999, the number of Centre City children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th-grade at the public schools has dropped from more than 600 to about 460. In the K-5th grades, the number has gone from 350 to 240.

“What we need to remember is that there is the new housing being built and there is the housing that has been in the neighborhood for years and years,” says Joe Wolf, director of Instructional Facilities Planning for the school district. “We have to look at both of those things. It seems that in the housing that has been around for a long time, the number of kids has dropped.”

The school district reports that most of the children attending the Downtown public schools are living in low-income residences. The school district does not keep data on children attending private schools. Wolf says it could be that the people moving into the new homes are sending their children to private schools.

While the district is interested in looking at locations for schools, Wolf notes monies paid to the district through developer fees goes to the district, not specifically to the area from which the fees came.

Moving Toward Excitement

Kristine Zucchetti and husband Gregg Witt moved from La Jolla to Downtown five years ago because they love the environment. They have a 2-year-old son. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Conventional wisdom is that most families move to the suburbs when their children are old enough to attend school. When the Hoffmans were evaluating the move from Scripps Ranch to Downtown, the big curveball was education. He teaches at Mesa College and his wife teaches at SDSU. After investigating the options, the children enrolled in CityTree Christian School. They are involved in Scouts and play sports at Balboa Park. “The excitement and stimulation and what (the children) see on a regular basis — in terms of walking around and just being Downtown — is a lot more stimulating than the house upon house of tract homes. You can’t throw a ball in the street, but you can’t do that in most places. I think it’s a myth that the suburbs are so child friendly.”

The Hoffmans are not alone. Kristine Zucchetti is excited to be living Downtown with her husband and 2-year-old son. They moved from La Jolla to Downtown five years ago because they love the environment. “I grew up in Toronto where the subway and streetcars could take you wherever you needed — restaurants, markets and great shopping all within reach,” she says. The couple runs a business Downtown and they like being close to work. Although she does not find the newer developments particularly child-friendly or affordable, she wouldn’t live anywhere else. “We want to stay in the Downtown area because the environment fits our lifestyle and personalities. In the few months we have been in the East Village we have made great friends and really feel like a community is developing with people that have the same interests and values as we do. We want our son to be exposed daily to the excitement of the city.”

Dozens of Downtown families have formed a group dedicated to socializing and taking advantage of the urban attractions.

In an effort to get families together for play dates, Todd and Marie Ruth started the SD-FUN playgroup in November 2003. “We’d been attending a Balboa Park area group and a group that met throughout central San Diego. We enjoyed both and thought ‘Why not start a group that meets at Downtown parks?’ Kids playing in the parks fosters community.” The SD-FUN mailing list includes 65 Downtown families with the most commonly listed neighborhoods being Marina and Little Italy. Another 20 families from near Downtown also are on the list. Ruth reports his group Web site had 2,000 hits in April from more than 300 visitors.

Marie and Todd Ruth cavort with their SD-FUN play group in Pantoja Park on G Street in the Marina District. The park is a great place for Downtown kids. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

The Ruths are renting in the Marina District with their 3-year-old daughter, waiting for their condominium in the Children’s Museum Tower project to be finished. They relocated from Valley Center nearly three years ago wanting to escape the traffic involved in driving anywhere. He is a software engineer who works from home, Marie is a full-time homemaker. The Ruths intend to remain Downtown for about 20 years and plan to homeschool their daughter until about third-grade. “I expect the Downtown education system to be completely different by the time my daughter is old enough to attend,” he says. They may put her name in the lottery for the Children’s Museum School, a charter school for students grades three through six. With another on the way, they are eager to get into their condo, “it’s a race between the kid being born (in August) and us moving to the condo,” he says.

The Ruths are getting a two-bedroom condo and intend to get creative with furniture to make private space for the children.

Making It Work

“We’re already seeing evolving preferences for urban living,” says Peggy O’Connell, v.p. of sales and marketing for The Douglas Wilson Cos. “A few years ago, young couples would pack up and head to the suburbs as soon as they started a family. Now, there are more and more young families who are staying Downtown and are optimistic about raising their kids in the city.

“We also are starting to see families transplanted from other major metro areas that know the ins and outs of urban living, and actively seek out Downtown housing. Many think raising a toddler in an urban environment is not only acceptable but also desirable. If it’s true that ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ then Downtown is a huge village.”