2022 Spring Issue - 57

Meeting City Focus
dios; one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments; and
townhouses, which are for smaller families, couples,
and singles. There also are three- and four-bedroom
rowhomes, which are for larger families.
Coleen Clementson, deputy CEO for planning, projects,
and programs at the San Diego Association of
Governments, echoes the increased interest in urbanized
areas.
" When I first started my planning career in San
Diego, we were doing a lot of greenfield, suburbantype
development, " she says. " Now, much more of
the focus is on reinvesting in our urbanized areas,
really focusing our growth and development where
there's existing infrastructure and new transit. "
That includes the new UC San Diego Blue Line
The I.D.E.A. District
was conceived and
built by Pete Garcia
and David Malmuth.
The transformative
urban initiative is
intended to create
13,000 design and
tech jobs over the
next 12 years and
stretch across 35
city blocks in San
Diego's East Village.
Trolley Extension that opened in November 2021. The
$2.1 billion project has created a connection from
downtown San Diego to the University of California,
San Diego (UCSD), adding nine new stops and rich
with opportunities for transit-oriented development.
Clementson refers to the trolley extension as a " blank
canvas for something to be built. " This is especially
true since the majority of the line's transit stations
have space for development.
" The nice thing is that these are publicly owned
properties, so we want to work closely with the development
community to really maximize what could
be built there, " Clementson says. " Like around the
rest of the nation, San Diego is no exception in that
we have an enormous lack of affordable housing, so
[we're] really pushing for these to be opportunities
for housing. People can live right there at the train
station. "
Other options include commercial development as
well as live/work units. Clementson says the agency
is also aiming for the areas to be bike- and pedestrian-friendly.
The
Blue Line Trolley extension is opening up a
realm of possibilities since local residents will also be
able to make connections into Mission Valley, which
includes Riverwalk, a planned mixed-use community
from Houston-based real estate investment group
Hines and the Levi-Cushman family. It will feature
roughly 4,000 multifamily units, 140,000 square feet
(13,000 sq m) of retail uses, and 1 million square
feet (92,900 sq m) of office space to be built on
about 200 acres (81 ha) upon completion, according
to the Hines website. Eric Hepfer, managing director
at Hines, says that phase one's completion date is
2025, and the completion date for the entire project
is 2037.
South of the Border
Mission Valley is also home to another planned community
development, Civita, as well as the new San
Diego State University Mission Valley campus. The
Blue Line Trolley extension is an add-on to the existing
line, offering its own opportunities for development
and extending south to Mexico's border at San
Ysidro, a district of the city of San Diego.
The United States/Mexico border at San Ysidro is
the " most heavily trafficked land port in the Western
Hemisphere, " Clementson points out. Right across
the border, in Tijuana, commercial real estate is
booming.
" The last 10 years, we have received more development
than in the last 20 years combined, " says
Hector Bustamante, CEO of Tijuana-based Bustamante
Realty Group.
The new development projects are changing the
face of the city, according to Bustamante. For example,
the Landmark Tijuana-a mixed-use project with
193 condominium units, retail space, a hotel, and
an office tower-is being developed by Bustamante
Realty Group, developer GFA, and real estate company
Thor Urbana Capital.
Tijuana has become the number-one city for developers
to invest in over any other city in Mexico, says
SPRING 2022
URBAN LAND
57
I.D.E.A. PARTNERS LLC
2022 Spring Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2022 Spring Issue
