A decades long period of urban decay on Market Street is not going to last. Building homes rented out at a fair market value is shutting the brick and masonry shops with storage and the inexpensive hotels out of the busy commercial strip.
And, the East Village locals who counted on paying low rents for a life getting by in washed out old one to three story buildings.
East of Seventh Avenue and the ballpark, the formerly vacant and downtrodden blocks are a hotbed for six story apartment building developments planned during the old redevelopment times that now come in time to make the recovery a reality all along the downtown Market Street. The 15th Street and Market Street apartment village beautified by brick orange stacked in the white walls, that the city council approved last year, will have a seventh story on the white and green corner, above the corner cafe. Construction work was held back before the recovery grew strong enough to make 2012 the right time to start work on the key development opportunities. Uncertainty on the openings is over now. Renters can plan on walking in to one of two 225 to 250 home buildings early next year, or Spring.
On Friday, January 25th, workers were using a crane to place wood stacks on top of the 13th Street building, above 13th Street. Block conversion has bee productive work for the construction crew. Passersby could look in the openings below upper story homes retail will show up.
Goods baskets will be found on the ground floor at the 13th and Market Street stores and restaurants inside the white, two tone brown, and black building that has glass fronts. Business, and jobs, go up on the blocks.
Old walls on the other side of the street do not stand safe.
Not all the familiar old shops have moved out. The San Diego Restaurant Supply still has the corner building on Park Boulevard. Aztec Appliance outlet has its yard on 15th Street, directly across from the excavated land between Market and G Streets that gets filled with the clanks made by building machines. Average bricks, stacked next to the Greater San Diego Transportation Company on G Street, give San Diegans with work to do lasting materials to keep a watch on.
But, a shop might need to move soon. The broad thoroughfare recently given new median lines nearby last July has no block, from the middle of downtown to east of the freeway, that is not a provocative place to set up work. The demand for downtown housing San Diegans can pay the rent on still is at a high pitch.
There is still potential for more development.
Plans to take diversions from daily life and relax are owed to new East Village residents who have rented east at the affordable housing tower on 16th Street and west as far as the Strata on Eighth. A 7-Eleven and a Grocery Outlet Bargain Market have locations down the street that make village living convenient. And, residents that go out can score a burger at Smash Burger or watch the Padres score runs at Petco Park. But, there is not much room, away from the village homes that have interior garden courtyards, to get together.
Crowds that walk the blocks, even without Ballpark Skylofts and Bahia View Condominiums built on the Market Street southside, would appreciate a piece of grass at a mini-park or pocket park. Parks were an important addition at the heart of the old development plans. Time will prove whether locals can count on having everything on their walking routes.
Mixed use buildings give the residents at Market Street Village, between the two new developments, an Albertsons and a Sav-on to shop at, and a Starbucks they can walk in the door at in the morning to get coffee. Even the extras many San Diegans have become accustomed to making a part of their life are found right near home sweet home.
Any luxury not found near home, can be found after a short trip.
Park & Market trolleys are only a short distance away. Trolley connections come in at the station a block south of the New School of Architecture riders pay to board, and be off.
To read earlier articles, read
The rancho mystique on a green highway run
Promenade flanks boats docked at new Shelter Island marina
The UTC town beat away from home
Central Library work makes gains step by step
Joy in Christmas work and trappings
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