Why I Am Betting On Urban San Diego (Part 1)
by Jim Scott

In the midst of all of the recent financial, San Diego real estate seems, in relative terms, an island of safety and tranquility. In my view there is nothing better around to invest in than San Diego urban real estate. Over the next several issues I will be discussing the reasons driving those prices. The columns will also argue that certain real estate in San Diego is a relative bargain even at current prices.

Why I Am Betting On Urban San Diego

What is emerging is a simple fact. San Diego is growing up as a city. Make no mistake, we have a long way to go. There are still many vestiges of the old order that maintain significant bureaucratic, economic and political power in this city. These are the people who fought sidewalk cafes, work-live lofts, food carts, mixed use developments and any other urban pleasures (sins). They control agencies that manage some of the best urban real estate in San Diego. They have failed to understand the nature of the new urban class who want cities based on the European model. (not Orange County) I suspect that the developers who held sway in this city were content with our rotting center city. After all, it was not in their interest to encourage active urban cores with close-in residential neighborhoods. The I-15 and I-5 corridors represented their roads to riches.

But the builder-developers have lost political power. Qualcomm Stadium is not named after a developer. That speaks volumes about the change in this city.

Tract builders have behaved rationally by developing land that had the best risk/reward ratio. Doing urban in-fill, rehabbing older neighborhoods and working in the central core simply carried to much aggravation and risk for the potential profit. Our city leaders and planners did little to redirect this process into a direction that would breathe life into our city. The development success of Allied Gardens in the early 1950s' demonstrated that we did not need to save older neighborhoods and that we could ignore our downtown. The incredibly bad planning decisions of the 1950s' and 1960s' made apartment builders rich but destroyed most of our older neighborhoods. If you doubt this, take a ride with me and I will show you how we squandered our architectural and urban heritage.

Then came the first gasoline shortage in 1973. People discovered the joys and convenience of living close to downtown in homes with plaster walls. Mission Hills and its sibling neighborhoods enjoyed a renaissance in the mid-1970s'. The 1990s' commercial and real estate boom in downtown San Diego is nothing more than an extension of that trend. Waiting in those gas lines in 1973 was not much different than sitting in the number three lane in 2000.

In spite of shortcomings, the urban area in San Diego holds the winning hand. We cannot sustain a good quality of life in San Diego by strip mining I-15. I see it in the parade of disaffected suburbanites wanting my lifestyle.This is all wonderful until the sticker shock. (Part II next month)

You can reach Jim Scott at his office, conveniently located in the heart of Mission Hills, at 1111 Fort Stockton Drive. Scott & Quinn is the oldest full service real estate firm in Mission Hills and is still locally owned and operated. Jim has been a homeowner in Mission Hills since 1976. He is married and has two boys. He can be reached at 296-9511. Scott & Quinn features professional property management as well as a sales division.