Nancy Graham, president of CCDC, says East Village is going to be an incredibly successful residential area. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

In Downtown’s collection of neighborhoods, the tony Marina is (nearly) done. Gaslamp Quarter is a party. Little Italy has its lovely established international flavor, view-rich Cortez is almost topped out, the Core has barely begun and Columbia is a transformed place of comfort. Now it is time to breathe new life into the East Village.

In the ’80s, the East Village, then known as Centre City East, was a rough industrial area aging badly, with few residents and a deserved reputation as a hangout for homeless awaiting meals and services from the nearby social service providers. Today, this is one of the county’s fastest and most diverse growing neighborhoods, touting everything from affordable housing to high-rise penthouses listed at more than $3 million.

“We are really enthusiastic about what is going on in East Village and think that it’s really going to be an incredibly successful residential area,” says CCDC President Nancy Graham.

Downtown’s largest neighborhood at more than 550 acres, East Village is bordered by Interstate 5 on the east and Sixth Avenue on the west, Harbor Drive on the south and stair steps down A and C streets on the north. What was once a rough, dilapidated, industrial area is sprinkled with new, modern buildings, classy restorations, restaurants, hotels and bars. Improvements include the completed Petco Park, plans for the Park-to-Bay link, new parks and upgraded rail service. “This is an area that still has land available for us to make sure things get built in a way that encourages families to come here,” Graham says. “We see the East Village as a great area to make sure that all the things you want to have in a city — that we don’t have already — we can accommodate there.”

CCDC views the East Village as an area of great opportunity to nurture Downtown’s small but growing population of families. In addition to giving developers incentives to add a third bedroom to units, CCDC has made it a priority to plan for parks. “We certainly need more recreation space Downtown,” says Nicole Haines, CCDC associate project manager. “Not only for people to get out and be active but also so there is a chance to sit down and have a nice quiet space and to provide some green space through the urban environment. With the Downtown community plan we will have a number of open spaces that will be created, some of them more active in character and others more passive.”

Building Parks By ‘De-Fault’

The East Village will see two parks. The largest in the area will cover three blocks and encompass 4.1 acres between 13th and 15th and F and G.

CCDC is looking at the idea of a linear park to connect the two parks. “There are a number of fault lines that run through the East Village,” Haines says. “Because they can’t be built on, we are looking at trying to identify pathways that would go through the faults connecting the parks.” An artist has been appointed and CCDC is asking the public to submit names for the parks online at ccdc.com.

The second park will encompass 56,000 square feet and is at 14th and Island. It will offer a number of playground options in addition to a large grass lawn area, and will be built as part of 15th and Island, a project by Pinnacle Development. Plans call for the park to cover an underground parking structure for the mixed-use project of 617 condominium units, 20,000 square feet of commercial space and 800 parking spaces.

Housing Plans In Record Numbers

If the parks seem large, they shrink in comparison to the amount of housing. “The East Village will be Downtown one day,” says Russ Valone, president of MarketPointe Realty Advisors. “Part of the reason is that East Village geographically is so big.” With existing and proposed housing stock of 14,948 units in about 101 projects, East Village represents 42 percent of the 35,778 units in Downtown and 34 percent of the 298 projects in Downtown. It is so big it has its own neighborhood association. “It’s a neighborhood in transition from an active commercial industrial area with some residential to what will become a more predominately residential community with hopefully thriving retail and office space,” says Leslie Wade, spokeswoman for the East Village Association.

The 14-year-old association represents the area’s building owners, residents and merchants. “We try to be eyes and ears for the citizens of the neighborhood and have been fairly active in trying to shape redevelopment policy,” says Wade, who is stepping back from her involvement soon to devote more time to other parts of her marketing and public affairs business.

With different projects marketing to different demographics, East Village is attracting buyers that range from empty nesters to young professionals to growing families. It is a changed community. “It looks different, it’s probably a little bit safer — though crime was not really the problem it was perceived to be,” Wade says. “It just looks better because of this last housing boom. It sprinkled new activity throughout the neighborhood.”

Problems remain, including an uneasy relationship with a concentration of social service providers and very low-income housing unwelcome in most City Council districts.

“It is much better to distribute social services geographically than corral them together,” Wade says. “The city imported a portion of the regions’ homeless when it located so many service providers in one place.”

The challenge now is meeting the city’s new goal of spreading these services throughout other council districts. Other association endeavors include establishing a historic warehouse district focused along J Street and working toward a balanced housing strategy.

“One of the problems we’ve had is trying to make sure we don’t have a concentration of the very low-income housing in that area,” Wade says. “We don’t want to look back in 20 years and see we created a ghetto.”

Graham says CCDC is working with the association on the low-income housing and social services challenges. Wade agrees. “This is an exciting time,” Wade says. “For the longest time we were on CCDC’s back burner. Now we are on the front.”

A Change Of Street Scene

The character of the streets has changed dramatically in the two years since the ballpark opened. Watching for 42 years from inside San Diego Restaurant Supply on Market Street, owner Todd Firotto says East Village is a work in progress that is only just emerging. “It’s got some ways to go,” he says. Firotto sees fewer drug traffickers and what he suspects are undocumented immigrants, and has more walk-in traffic from new neighbors. He has even changed some of his product to meet the new demand. “It’s exciting to see new people come in,” he says. “San Diego is turning into something. It’s coming.”

Where there was no night life, there are now restaurants like Cafe Chloe on Ninth Avenue that invite patrons to walk in, sit awhile and enjoy the neighborhood. A quaint European bistro-style eatery, its floor-to-ceiling windows present a welcoming face to East Village residents. San Diegans Alison McGrath, John Klute and Tami Ratcliffe wanted to establish an upscale place that would nurture urban life within their own neighborhood. “We saw a little bit of San Francisco here,” says Ratcliffe. “The area is very neighborhoody.” The restaurant opened in December 2004 and the owners have yet to get time to pause and take a breath. “It’s been amazing,” Ratcliffe says “We have received a warm and welcoming response ever since we opened.” Ratcliff and her husband are enjoying the neighborhood so immensely, they plan to soon invest in a Downtown loft of their own.

Plans Toward A Good Change

Good planning will make changes in the area work. “The scare factor of the East Village has diminished,” Valone says. “Especially the people on the street have changed. The homeless are much less prevalent today. They are still around, but instead of being something that jumps out at you, they sort of fade into the background. And from a property value standpoint, you now have a couple of thousand residential units that weren’t there a couple of years ago.”

Near the end of June, the active East Village market listed 1,875 homes for sale in 10 projects and 418 units for rent in another 10 projects. Conversions add 144 units in three projects. These numbers are staggering for an area nobody wanted to touch just a few years ago.
“I was there when the Padres first announced their ballpark intent and I then tied up two whole blocks adjacent to center field,” says Douglas Wilson, principal of Douglas Wilson Cos. “People thought I was crazy. But, you know, they’re thinking I’m less crazy lately. Literally, eight years ago when I tied all of that up, they wondered, ‘Why are you doing that?’ I said, ‘Because my view of the future is that this area is going to change radically.’ I guess that was a good assumption.”

With his work earlier taking him to San Francisco and Denver, Wilson witnessed how Pac Bell Park and Coors Field served as development catalysts, triggering new residential projects, retail and office uses in downtrodden areas. He saw similar potential in the land surrounding Petco, ultimately betting $60 million on that vision with his 120-unit Parkloft complex, which stayed under construction even when lawsuits halted ballpark construction. “There was nothing there,” he recalls of the pre-Parkloft East Village. “It was fairly blighted. Kind of a potpourri of uses. I was able to look at the original master plan of the area and saw that center field was going to be open with a view back over toward the skyline.”

Success has kept Wilson busy Downtown and the last few years have been a whirlwind with sales and prices increasing dramatically. He says the next few years will allow for things to calm a bit and give the area an opportunity to evolve. “Construction cost increases will inhibit new projects from moving forward,” he says. “But long-term that is healthier because it will allow existing product to be absorbed, and there is still good sales activity. What will happen now is more creative, mixed-use projects with perhaps greater community benefits. If we were looking at it 10 years from now, we’d be amazed at the dramatic change. At its conclusion, East Village can be significantly the largest neighborhood in Downtown.”

Sales at Douglas Wilson’s The Mark are going well. Peggy O’Connell, vice president of sales and marketing, was with Wilson for Parkloft and says selling East Village today is a whole new ballgame. “When we were marketing Parkloft, the ballpark was stalled,” she says. “Our buyers had to believe things would come through the red tape. Without the ballpark, East Village would not be what it is today. Now it is an eclectic neighborhood with a fun and exciting edginess.”

Another developer seemingly with a crystal ball is OliverMcMillan. The San Diego company has been developing mixed-use retail, entertainment and residential projects for 27 years. In the early ’90s the firm went to work on the mixed-use Uptown District in Hillcrest. That experience and the realization that with its low prices, Downtown had long-range potential, led OliverMcMillan to purchase and turn parking lots on G Street into about 1,400 rental units. The company’s first Downtown project was the Ralphs grocery store. “That really changed the whole Marina District,” says Jim Reynolds, the company’s managing director. “Once there is a grocery store, there becomes life on the streets. As soon as a grocery store gets here, it changes the aspect of the neighborhood.” The East Village will get its own taste of that reasoning when the 43,000-square-foot Albertsons opens on the east side of 14th Street, between Market and G streets. It will be another significant step for the evolving neighborhood.

“In the next few months, you’ll be seeing several thousand people moving in,” Reynolds says. As OliverMcMillan leases its three projects and more residents roam city streets, demand is surging for local restaurants and retail. “Think about the upper east side in New York,” Reynolds says. “I think the East Village will look like that. There will be lots of street activity and retail in a residential neighborhood. There is going to be several thousand new people moving in.”

With the rest of Downtown a more mature market, East Village offers the largest selection of new homes. Bosa Development controls several properties in the area and is building The Legend, 178 condominiums in a mixed-used development on the block bounded by J and K streets, and Seventh and Eighth avenues, directly north of Petco Park. “We are closing in on 100 sold,” says Sharon Tentilucci, Bosa sales agent. “Things are going great. We are fortunately not getting many investors. We are seeing more people who want to live Downtown. We have everybody in this building from young professionals to retirees to second homes. I think the demographics is maybe a younger crowd. It’s very diverse with a majority being on the younger side.”

Tentilucci says selling Bosa product is easy as there are dedicated buyers. “They have such a fan club that follows them building to building and moves from one building to the next,” she says. “I’m one of those people, believe it or not. I’ve worked my way from an 1,100 square footer on the eighth floor up to 1,300 square feet on the 23rd floor and then I’m going over to Electra and be at 1,500 square feet on the 23rd floor.”

Cesar and Janina Hernandez call The Grande home, but eagerly await completion of a unit at The Legend. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Cesar and Janina Hernandez also favor Bosa projects. The couple call The Grande on Harbor Drive home but are eagerly anticipating completion of a unit at The Legend. It will be their third Downtown acquisition; they also have two units in Little Italy where they house visiting friends and family. “We plan to do our entertaining at (The Legend),” Cesar says. “All of our units are completely fixed up.”

Cesar, 36, is a south San Diego native and has been watching Downtown for about 10 years. He moved with Janina, 42, from La Mesa about a year ago to experience something new. They commute to offices in El Centro and look forward to coming home and parking their cars for the weekend. What he finds attractive about Downtown living is the cleanliness and the ability to walk anywhere. He enjoys having the restaurants, shopping center and movie theaters. “We love experiencing something new all the time, looking at the skyline and being near the waterfront,” he says. “Neighbors include doctors and ballplayers. Everybody seems to be really nice. I feel really safe leaving my wife home or walking around at night. It’s been better than expected.”

Buyers Seek Neighborhood Character

Jim Abbott, managing partner of Jim Abbott & Associates, notes the abundance of building in East Village has created a glut of inventory relative to the rest of Downtown. “Buyers are making astonishing deals,” he says. “And there are a lot of great buildings.” While prices can be lower in the East Village, Abbot says many buyers are attracted by the idea of living in a “grittier neighborhood.” He looks forward to the market slowdown. “It’s a time for the demand to catch up with supply,” he says. “The resale market is fairly consistent. It doesn’t vary much from about 50 closed sales per month in all of 92101. But inventories have gone, in the last two years, from 100 units to over 600 units.” Abbott predicts this will make things affordable for the next three years. “Rather than it being a complete neighborhood in five years, it will be closer to 10 years.”

San Diegans Change Their Perception

East Village’s buyers are mostly from San Diego, but they are coming from all over. Many are San Diegans who moved to other parts of the country and now want to return. “It’s a whole new world from five years ago,” says Tentilucci. “You can imagine people who were here quite a while ago, who have a jaded perception and then they come back and see what is going on here. This is one of the hottest cities in the United States.”

Hot is one definition for some of the projects going up Downtown.

In designing Icon, Development Manager Richard Garcia incorporated the historic Carnation building. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Preserving some history while making history of its own is Icon, which offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units, penthouses and live/work units with flexible floor plans. The 327-unit project offers 12 live/work lofts that feature completed kitchens and bathrooms but have no defining walls. In designing Icon, Development Manager Richard Garcia incorporated the historic Carnation building. But unique attributes don’t stop there. On the roof of the tallest tower, which overlooks Petco Park, is a rooftop “stadium” that will provide homeowners with a clear view of the field and scoreboard video. The viewing space, about 800 feet from home plate, will be outfitted with a canopy, grill and telescope. At ground level will be a home theater with seating for 25. Wired for cable, DVD and Playstation, this is an area for residents to relax or hold a party.

Icon sales are doing well, Garcia says, with 85 percent of the units absorbed. “We are having so much fun,” he says. “We are very encouraged by nearby sellouts and that the Metrome is seeing re-sales.” Expected to be a hot commodity is the 16,000 square feet of ground floor retail, especially once the DiamondView Tower office project opens across the street early next year.

“This is all what makes a cool neighborhood,” Douglas Wilson says of the diversity. “I like East Village because it’s a little bohemian in one way and yet can be very sophisticated. Variety is good.”