Downtown Condos Plan Includes at Least 87 Units

Officials of the agency in charge of downtown San Diego’s redevelopment have for the second time in two weeks announced plans for yet another housing project in the Marina area south of Horton Plaza.

The latest Centre City Development Corp. proposal, made public Friday, calls for the construction of at least 87 condominiums--and maybe as many as 120 or more--on most of the block bounded by Columbia Street, State Street, G Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

This block sits across the street from two other well-known condominium complexes, Marina Park and Park Row, which when they opened in 1982 were the first new units offered for sale downtown in decades.

The most familiar building on the proposed new block is the old Cracker Factory at Columbia and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, which will remain.

According to the plan distributed by CCDC, builders will have until Aug. 25 to submit development proposals for the 44,600-square-foot property.

Only several days ago, on June 12, CCDC announced it is seeking proposals from developers for construction of a 24-unit, privately owned apartment complex six blocks to the east at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 3rd Avenue.

CCDC has come under some criticism for not pushing hard enough for new housing downtown--a key ingredient in the official plans for the downtown’s renewal. But CCDC officials say that such criticism is unfair and that the agency has not wavered from its commitment to housing.

Even the toughest critics acknowledge that downtown housing is still a hard sell, a fact illustrated by the subsidies necessary to entice most housing developers.

As a matter of practice, CCDC has helped underwrite the costs of most housing projects by acquiring land at market values and then selling it at low cost to developers.

Including projects already completed, under construction or committed for development, the agency has helped subsidize--directly or indirectly--the development of 1,454 housing units downtown.