A developer is proposing a 37-story residential tower in downtown San Diego, adding to a growing list of new projects. San Francisco-based Cresley Homes, which has built multifamily projects across California, is planning 443 apartments, a small commercial space (about 985 square feet / 91.5 square meters), and two levels of underground parking.
The proposed 20,063-square-foot (1,863-square-meters) site is near Petco Park on Island Avenue between 6th and 7th Avenues and across from Sempra’s headquarters. It will take up the space of ballpark self-storage. Initial estimates put the cost at around US$233 million, but the developer said they are in the process of coming up with a new launch due to rising costs.
Jay Kevin Mullern, senior vice president at real estate firm CBRE in San Diego, said developers are driven by rent benefits and are betting on job growth with many life science companies attempting to relocate there. The biggest effort to get those companies moving downtown is the US$1.6 billion IQHQ project near the San Diego waterfront, which aims to find space for the area’s growing biotech industry.
At 430 feet (131 meters) and with a large number of units, Cressley’s project will be among the densest apartment complexes in the city. The building on the site may look like another self-storage building but is listed by the city as a Historic Resort. In 1929 the investment firm Klauber-Wangenheim Co. Built by the U.S., the four-story concrete and brick structure is considered an example of an industrial architectural style popular during the 1920s. Cressley changed plans to retain its historic façade, building a massive residential tower on top of it.
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