Gaye Stennett - and her husband, Bill - were Downtown-dwelling pioneers when they moved to the Meridian in 1988. Now that the area has flourished, the Stennetts are relishing their condo’s proximity to ballgames, theaters and restaurants. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

When Gaye Stennett moved to the Meridian with her husband Bill in 1988, the building was brand new, the notion of middle-class living in Downtown San Diego was fresh and the amenities outside the building were sparse. “The Gaslamp Quarter wasn’t Bourbon Street without the sleaze, the way it is now,” she says. “They had the Keystone Kops on bicycles and they would gently warn you it wasn’t safe there after 10 p.m. – and it was true.”

When they moved into the Meridian, the Stennetts became the 100th residents of the high-rise — a list that included the building’s developer, Walt Smyk.

At the time, the Marina District — the Meridian was its first residential tower — had two other residential complexes, Marina Park and Park Row, Stennett says. The rest was train tracks, warehouses, vacant lots and low-end retail including a huge army surplus store, all butting up against the dicey-at-night Gaslamp.

The first wave of residences followed the construction of Horton Plaza and the San Diego Convention Center, which promised to anchor a Downtown revival. Then the recession of the early 1990s dragged development to a halt.

How things have changed. The Marina District now is host to about 3,500 homes, from the CityFront Terrace and Harbor Club (it sputtered open as One Harbor Drive) to the very modern Atria and Renaissance. About 6,000 people live and thrive in the neighborhood bordered by Harbor Drive, F Street and Fourth Avenue.

“We’ve watched the city grow up around us and it’s all accessible,” Stennett says. “We walk to the ballpark, the Lyceum and Horton Grand theaters, to restaurants and movies. Whenever we think about going on vacation, we can’t come up with a place where there’s more to do than right here — living here is like being on vacation all the time.”

The district’s location, with the bay on two edges, was a key factor in attracting a steady pace of residential development through the mid-1990s when about 1,200 residences were built — many as row homes or low-rise condo complexes — along with Ralphs, Downtown’s first supermarket. The urban housing boom of the past five years brought about 1,200 new condos in eight projects — a small percentage compared to the rest of Downtown. The city counts 1,180 apartments in the Marina mix along with four older residence hotels.

“The area was pretty well built out, compared to the East Village, for example,” says Derek Danziger of the Centre City Development Corp. “A lot of the early construction was the low-rise townhomes and smaller buildings built to look like the suburbs because you couldn’t attract San Diegans to high-rises then.”

Just one more project is expected to produce residences, a mixed-use project Bosa Development recently acquired from McKinnon Development Inc., slotted for the block bounded by First, Second and Island avenues and J Street near the Harbor Club.

The new Children’s Museum is slated to open — with an outdoor park — in late 2007, adding to the greens of Pantoja Park and the Martin Luther King Jr. promenade. And Seaport Village remains a vibrant neighbor, at the center of a lovely Downtown boardwalk that skims the harbor.

Because much of the area was defined by the 1990s construction — and because there are few restaurants and retailers south and west of Horton Plaza, the Marina District retains a quiet feel.

“In the evening, it’s nice for walking but it’s livelier to the east and north,” says Caryl Iseman, a real estate agent who lives in the district but is looking forward to a move to the East Village. “It’s a really nice, convenient district, next door to Nordstrom and Ralphs, but I don’t find the area as energetic and vibrant as the East Village.”

About 150 units are up for sale in the district, where resale condos dominate the market — unlike Downtown’s newer neighborhoods. A disproportionate number are from CityFront Terrace, Iseman says, where the homeowners association recently settled a construction lawsuit that had made it hard to sell the units.

Beth Paul lived at CityFront, a 321-unit building finished in 1993, for two years and loved it, she says.

“They did a fabulous job of developing the Marina District — it’s a wonderful place to live,” Paul says. She particularly enjoyed the access to the waterfront and Pantoja Park, she said. After their unit flooded, she and her husband moved to the Columbia District, but remember the peaceful area with great fondness.

Jim Abbott & Associates’ Melissa Waid understands her clients, who enjoy the Marina’s quiet living but quick walks to shopping and entertainment. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

The biggest break in the peace, residents say, are the train whistles that sound at every crossing — as many as 13 blasts as trains cover the 1.25 miles between Laurel Street and Park Boulevard. Marina District residents catch four or five — many late at night as freight moves through the area.

“We’re setting up quiet zones in that stretch with enhanced safety features that will make it virtually impossible for pedestrians to cross when a train is coming to eliminate the need for trains to blow their whistles,” Danziger says. “We’re spending $6.8 million on it, and it involves agreements with the Metropolitan Transit System, the North County Transit District, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe freight and federal train authorities.”

Melissa Waid, a real estate agent with Jim Abbott & Associates, says that people who seek Marina District homes want to be close to the action of the Gaslamp Quarter and Little Italy — sort of.

“They want the convenience of access to the excitement but they don’t want it on their doorstep,” she says. “You want your home to be a sanctuary but it’s nice to have the clubs and restaurants close enough to get to in a few minutes.”

In a few minutes’ walk, Marina residents can get to hundreds of nightclubs and lounges, and the more than 100 restaurants and 80 retail stores in Gaslamp’s historic buildings.

Despite the huge growth in Downtown population, which tripled to about 26,000 in the past five years with thousands more expected, the Gaslamp Quarter still relies on Convention Center visitors for half its revenues, according to Dan Flores, senior marketing manager for the quarter’s association.

“The opening of the Convention Center in the ’80s is why the quarter survived and they’re still keeping it afloat,” Flores says. “Even on a Tuesday, you can have your restaurant half full with conventioneers, and that keeps our folks alive. As other restaurateurs saw the success here, they moved in in the 1990s.”

Even with the huge number of people moving into Downtown, Gaslamp Quarter businesses still rely on conventions for revenue, says Dan Flores, the quarter’s senior marketing manager. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

As more businesses came, the once seedy district became nicer and more crowded.

But it’s always been, well, lively.

The Gaslamp is one of the earliest settlements — although never settled — in San Diego. The quarter has served as the red-light district, home to brothels, bars and gambling operations since the turn of the century — at the same time City Hall stood in its midst.

Wyatt Earp famously lived there when it was called the Stingaree. World War II-era Navy literature warned sailors away from the quarter with dire discussions of disease–and limited success.

The quarter also has been home to lively celebrations including Mardi Gras and Street Scene (don’t get old timers started on how much fun the original scene was for adults) and the annual San Diego Film Festival, but those parties don’t pay the rent. Still, the association strives to get more locals to come and spend.

“The challenge has been getting people to find parking and get out of their cars,” says Flores. “We’ve got two (parking structures) on Sixth Avenue with controlled parking fees, never higher than $10 and often around $3, that aren’t widely known — yet.”

Compared to the rest of Downtown, residential properties are few. K. Hovnanian Communities completed Gaslamp Square earlier this year, with 25,000 square feet of retail space and 88 condominiums.

The area is home to less than 500 condos and about 200 apartments — and a clutch of older hotels. New hotels are going up in the quarter. The Hard Rock will open a San Diego outpost next year, offering a condo twist, and Marriott is developing both a Renaissance Hotel and a Residence Inn, Danziger says.

But the Gaslamp also is evolving to attract and serve more Downtown residents.

“The Gaslamp is poised to become more interesting and useful to the people who live Downtown,” says Beverly Schroeder. senior planner at CCDC. “And more and more nightclubs are moving away from dance venues and becoming lounges, where people can go to chill and hang out.”