New Condos Downtown San Diego - Revitalization

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

If you complained about someone copying you when you were a child, did your mother ever say what my mother said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  At the time I didn't give a hoot about the flattery, I just wanted whoever was copying me to stop....usually my brother in one of those sibling rivalries.  Today I am flattered if someone wants to copy me.  How times change.

Cities have learned lessons from other cities.  If you live in a new Downtown San Diego condo, your first thought might be this is an old photo of the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego.  You would be wrong.  This is the downtown Broadway District in downtown Los Angeles. 

Last week we had 50 Los Angeles city officials visit downtown San Diego to see how they can use our experience with the Gaslamp District for their own redevelopment of downtown Los Angeles.  I don't know if you have every visited downtown LA, but it is not a pleasant experience.   Los Angeles officials have allocated $36.5 million for their "Bringing Back Broadway" project.  Downtown LA's Broadway District mimics many of the Gaslamp's woes prior to our downtown redevelopment.

According to Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar,  "The similarities between downtown Los Angeles, and Broadway in particular, are very striking to what existed here in San Diego. They took what was a blighted area with a lot of potential and made it into an active, lively entertainment destination that is a true neighborhood."

"What is amazing to me is how they've integrated older structures with new structures and at the same time provided multiple means of public transportation," Huizar said.

The Bringing Back Broadway plan includes the return of streetcar service, which operated in downtown Los Angeles until 1961. The proposed streetcar would connect with the L.A. Live and Grand Avenue developments. 

It will be very interesting to see how Los Angeles adapts and translates our successful Gaslamp redevlopment into a downtown Los Angeles redevelopment.  LA will probably do a fine job.....but of course no one can do it as well as we can in San Diego. 

By Sharyn & Victoria Crown, Downtown San Diego real estate agents

This is part of a series of articles entitled, New Condos, Downtown San Diego Style