Find Your HOA Mgmnt Co. | Pets In The City | Historical Pricing Data 2006/2018 | Monthly
Average High-End Condos | Average Price by Building: 2006-2018 | Size Matters: Accurate Bosa Condo Measurements |
Size Matters: Accurate Pinnacle Measurements | HOA Rates: Then & Now |
Heights
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Comparable Closes 2000-2020 | Considerations When Buying Preconstruction
E-mail
Lew Breeze for password.
Thank you for visiting SDCONDO, San Diego's original
(since 1999) website resource for owners, buyers, and sellers in downtown
San Diego. SDCONDO displays all the relevant and current information on the
downtown San Diego market. As you have noticed, my website goes beyond the
basics of the very general content provided by other real estate websites. I
offer detailed information about our downtown San Diego real estate market,
neighborhood descriptions (Little Italy -
Embarcadero
- Gaslamp -
East
Village), maps, walk scores, and so much more.
Downtown San Diego a great place to call home, I should know; It has been my home
since 2001, as a resident in the Embarcadero, Marina, Little Italy neighborhoods.
Chances are that the other "experts" you find on the Internet either do not live
in Downtown San Diego. Should you work with someone who is not wholly vested in Downtown
San Diego? I live and own at The Grande South. As a resident and Broker, I know the
downtown better than most. SDCONDO is a team of one; I am a highly trained real
estate professional devoted to the detailed knowledge that only a true Downtown San Diego
specialist could possess. My core knowledge and niche help create the foundation for the
content found on the SDCONDO (did you know, I do all of this by hand, not an automated
computer feed or hired programmer).
As Broker/Owner, I am dedicated to core Downtown San Diego specific knowledge,
exceptional communication, and outstanding customer service. In order to be successful in
our real estate market, both service and core knowledge need to be exceptional, but I
couldn't do it without your referrals, which are always important and appreciated.
Friends, clients, and fans of my site are are now more savvy and educated that ever, and
will know more about Downtown San Diego than most other real estate agents.
SDCONDO provides exactly what a buyer or seller
interested in Downtown San Diego Real Estate requires: easy to understand and specialized
market content, simple and easy to use, no banner ads or outside advertising, and current
and up to date rigorous content. Did you know I provide statistics that no broker, agent,
or even real estate agency in the world possess? It's true. So spend some time on the
site, and with your free password you will be in possession of more
intimate knowledge than most real estate agents!Email or call
619-846-5889 and let me know how I can assist you in downtown San Diego.
A very brief history of downtown San Diego, California, USA.
[Most of the links in this section will
open a new page from a separate website]
California: About 175 years ago. As the San
Diego community grew in the new state of California, a government
surveyor named
Andrew Gray (1820-1862) recognized that the best place for a seaside
city was on our bay.
William Heath Davis (1822-1909), from San Francisco, agreed. Davis
and a small group of businessmen purchased one hundred and sixty acres (up to what is now Front and Broadway),
for just over two-thousand dollars. They named it New Town (as to
differentiate it from
Old Town), and planned out fifty-six blocks
around downtown's first park, Pantoja Plaza, named for Spanish explorer
Don Juan Pantoja y Arriaga, who first
surveyed & charted San Diego Bay in 1782. Pantoja Park still remains today, in
the Marina District surrounded by condos such as Park Row, Marina Park,
The Watermark and Columbia Place. The park is registered as the 7th
San Diego Historic Landmark. Davis purchased 14 prefabricated
houses, built in New England, and also constructed a wharf and warehouse in
preparation of the anticipated residents and shipping opportunities.
Unfortunately, an economic depression followed. While events of his day
did not permit Davis to achieve his dream, his ideas were a premonition
as to what would occur in years to come. Of the original fourteen
houses, one still exists at the corner of Fourth and Island, now a
museum by the Gaslamp
Quarter Historical Foundation.
Alonzo Erastus Horton (1813-1909) purchased 960 acres of New Town
within one month of arriving in San Diego. Total cost: $264, or 27.5¢
per acre. Horton created a grid of streets with small blocks,
without alleys, allowing for a larger number of (more valuable) corner
lots to be sold. The first real estate boom was underway! The price of
downtown lots doubled and tripled over and over. New Town was
established as the physical, social and economic hub of San Diego.
Horton House, built where the
U.S. Grant Hotel is now located, was one of the finest hotels of the
day. In addition to being president of the first Bank of San Diego, he
also donated land for a small town square that became
Horton Plaza
Park.
San Diego's first electric street lights were installed
downtown in 1886, and trolley lines began operating in 1888, with over
thirty-seven
miles of track. Elegant office buildings dotted Fifth Avenue where the
region's business occurred during the day. South of Market Street,
however, several blocks of bawdy houses, gin joints, gambling halls and
opium dens, known as the Stingaree district, provided the nightlife.
The area today is part of the historic
Gaslamp Quarter.
With his Tombstone days behind him,
Wyatt
Earp (1848-1929) showed up in San Diego, investing heavily from 1885
to 1887. Earp owned or leased four saloons and gambling halls; the most
famous was the Oyster Bar, located in the
Louis Bank Building on Fifth Avenue.
The late 1890s ushered
in a difficult period for San Diego. The city's struggling economy owed
much of the following recovery to a wealthy businessman named
John D. Spreckels, who made his fortune in his father's sugar
business in Hawaii. Spreckels came to downtown in 1887 for a visit from his
home in San Francisco. He made his visit permanent. In downtown,
Spreckels was responsible for a great deal of growth. At one time, he
owned most of the acreage south of Broadway. He purchased the streetcar
system and changed it from horsepower to electricity. He also bought
The San Diego Union and Tribune newspapers
(merged in 1992). San Diego's cultural
life benefited from his accomplishments as well, including the building
of the landmark
Spreckels Theatre. He also built the
Hotel San Diego
(demolished in 2006), and the Bank of America
Building at Sixth and Broadway in 1927, the last building of any significance
constructed until the 1970s, when
interest in redevelopment in downtown San Diego resumed. Spreckels is
remembered as "One of America's few great "Empire Builders" who invested
millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and
cosmopolitan city San Diego is today."
Copy of The New York
Times article from May 22, 1988 by Kathy Shocket:
Luring Renters to Downtown: Attracting young professionals with
rents ranging from $480 to $850 per month!
For another brief
write up on our history visit the timeline on
Gaslamp's
History.
Here is
a link to an old
Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) Map, listing many of the
then completed, planned, and planned but never built projects from the
early 2000s, when most of the Internet wasn't as sophisticated as today.
It may be interesting to some to view the developer renderings of the
buildings.
I hope
you enjoyed the above. Now it may be the right time for you to purchase
a home in downtown San Diego with Lew Breeze as your guide! Text or call
619-846-5889 or email
lew.breeze@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting!
*Notes:
I do this by hand, so occasionally I have a typo or haven't
added/removed a particular condo. If you do find a typo, I would not mind if you point it
out to me. A square foot advisory suggests that you need to be vigilant
in your measurement of the property, to make sure the interior space matches
the number you've been told it is. I can help you measure if you need
assistance.
I do not include for sale
by owner, or when seller has contracted for MLS entry only, or auction
listings, or various random other units for sale.
The HOA dues shown are subject to change, and is a
monthly fee.
Number of parking spaces is subject to buyer verification.
T=Tandem, V=Valet, G=Garage.
HOA amount may include special assessments, if any.
Payment estimate is for people putting down ten percent of
the purchase price.
Cost indications above are for
P&I (principle loan payment (P) and interest payment (I)) only. For the payment
calculation, I've used a down payment of 10%. If your down payment is different, your
P&I will be different. If your down payment is less than 20%, you will have a PMI
payment (Private Mortgage Insurance) as well. I will use current market rates, though as
rates change, I do not change all of the properties to reflect that (only as I have time).
In general, the interest rate quoted by a lender is lower than the actual APR (Annual
Percentage Rate) you may receive. The APR reflects more than the simple interest rate; it
also considers fees you would pay to obtain the loan, and is a method you can use to
compare financing alternatives more easily (Regulation Z of the Federal Government
Truth-in-Lending Act). You should speak with a professional lender to obtain more accurate
figures, as the above payment indications are estimates only. Click the following
links: General Table w/ Various Rates. If you do not have a
mortgage professional, I would be happy to provide you with a list of lenders in which I
know to be reputable. Currently using 3.75%, or 4.25% for Jumbo as May 2020.
Some of the data above is from San Diego Multiple Listing Service (SDMLS) for October 01, 2019 to today, and represents properties listed for sale by various
brokers (see Listing Office). |