Rethink Downtown by San Diego Regional EDC

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Behind San Diego’s Skyline

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Foreword Bosa Development As sponsors of the “Rethink Downtown: Behind San Diego’s Skyline” exhibition, Bosa Development welcomes you to this rare opportunity to better understand the ideas and initiatives that have shaped our downtown, from the past into our urban future. Founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Bosa made its first investments here nearly twenty years ago. San Diego has been good to us, so creating this unprecedented exhibition is our way of saying thank you in the most creative way possible— engendering public understanding and debate on design and city-building.

In assembling a team to imagine and craft this exhibition we sought the best exhibition creative talent both locally and globally, assembling a final team comprised of firms from London, Vancouver, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. The narrative our international creative team has shaped tells how San Diego has repeatedly innovated and used design to improve its downtown, thereby improving both work and living conditions for all. This story starts with the founding of the Mission, but continues into the near future. In recent decades, Bosa’s contributions necessarily have become part of the story, as our residential developments have fathered the renaissance of a portion of downtown.

As San Diegans experience this modest exhibition and publication, we hope that you emerge with a fuller knowledge of this city. As an engaged corporate citizen, Bosa is committed to the increasing international role and presence of San Diego, whose urban virtues and accomplishments now deserve to be better known globally.

This exhibition is only the start—our fondest wish would be for this city to come to the realization that its most innovative designs and urban thinking are yet to come. Bosa has become San Diegan by choice, and we appreciate that other creative enterprises from technology and bio-science to top architecture and development firms are now joining us here. Our core exhibition message is simple: this city has been built through a series of innovative “rethinks.” We want to hear what further rethinks you would wish for downtown San Diego, as this conversation has only just begun. Bosa Development California II, Inc. August, 2015

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Curator’s Introduction Rethinking San Diego In the lives of cities—like the lives of people—there are highs and lows, challenges and triumphs. The ever-more vital character of downtown San Diego today is admirable, but even more so when one understands the 256 years of creative problem-solving undertaken by its citizens, businesses and institutions. Successive generations here have overcome geographic isolation, irregular water supply, changing economic orders, the booms and busts of military and defense contractor spending, unsafe streets, anti-urban sentiments and demographic shifts to shape a downtown that is more lively and attractive now than at any time past. Repeatedly, San Diego has faced its challenges and made a better city. The “Rethink Downtown” project—which includes the exhibition, this catalog and related public programing—tells this story, and it is an inspiring one. This is not a definitive urban history of central San Diego. Nor is this exhibition an in-depth profile of its real estate industry, or even a decade-by-decade record of its achievements in city-building. Rather, this is a narrative exhibition, which puts forward a single word and concept as a lens, a device to focus admiration for all that has been built here, and all that will be.

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The lens we propose for this city to better understand its urban achievements is the notion of the “rethink.” By rethink we mean the periodic and radical application of design, re-ordering, and economic innovation to make a better city. As exhibition curator I gathered together a dozen plus examples of how San Diego has used creative rethinking to shape a better downtown—starting from the Spanish Colonial and Mexican eras, right through the coming of the railroad, Navy, military contractors, developers and bio-science innovators. With booms and busts, social and environmental issues, it has not always been easy for San Diego, so this city has evolved a culture of innovation because it needed to. The result is that this creative rethinking has come to dominate its landscape of ideas, and now endures as a precious legacy.

The patron of this exhibition—and in some sections, necessarily also its subject—is Bosa Development. It is less than 20 years since founder Nat Bosa arrived here from Vancouver with new ideas of city-building. Because he got to build on a prior tradition of the San Diego rethinks, Bosa innovated even further and faster with his residential portfolio here than he did in his own hometown (in the opinion of this Vancouver-based architecture critic/curator.) After agreeing to serve as curator/writer and Wordsearch were selected as designers, a creative team charrette was held in February 2015 on the form and content of what we would come to call “Rethink Downtown: Behind San Diego’s Skyline”. I had arrived a week earlier for research and interviews of a wide sampling of San Diegans about their downtown: historians, architects, economists, business leaders, artists, planners, new immigrants, business owners, retirees and students. The word “rethink” popped up often in these dialogues with local citizens, and the charrette team quickly convinced me that this word was ideal to explain how the city had always found ways around its problems. In closing, here is a personal account of the scale and success of the San Diego rethinks. My first visit to downtown San Diego came right after finishing my architecture degree in the early 1980s. I had been warned by my colleagues that “San Diego doesn’t really have a downtown,” and I saw little that convinced me otherwise on that first walk around in 1983.

But what an astonishing change by 2015! Downtown now hums with construction, and has never been home to more residents. There are better linkages to the Pacific Ocean because decaying docklands and marginal trade areas have been replaced with hotels, convention center and residential districts, plus the serene Embarcadero Esplanade. Its steel dome now a symbol of downtown’s turn-around, the beautiful new Central Library, and the whole East Village flanking it, is on the way up. Old oceanic shipping containers have been imaginatively re-purposed as street corner cafés, and developments with telling names like “Makers Quarter” and “I.D.E.A. District” are shaping new places to work and live for a vital new generation of downtown residents. With this exhibition we hope to start a dialogue about how this city has bettered itself in the past, and how it might continue to do so in the future. Conceived in the same spirit of innovation, we’re proud that our exhibition, itself, now joins the long line of San Diego rethinks. Trevor Boddy B.A., M. Arch., MRAIC AIA hon Rethink Exhibition Curator & Editor August, 2015

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RETHINK TWO

Horton’s Plan

1867

Seeing no future in Old Town located away from the deep anchorage harbor, new arrival from the East Coast Alonzo Horton bought 960 acres for 27 cents each, then drafted a plan for 226 city blocks for his “Addition Plan.”

1769

RETHINK ONE

A Viable Town-site

San Diego was born 256 years ago, and the use of Spanish predominated for the first century of its history. A number of town-sites were tested and abandoned before downtown as we know it fell into place. The Franciscan Mission was built and re-built on several locations, and soon there emerged a separate location for the military Presidio, followed by the Mexican pueblo now known as Old Town. But by the American conquest of 1846 San Diego was home to only a couple of hundred residents. During the next decade a “New Town” settlement was attempted. It failed, and got called “Davis’ Folly,” because it was starved for both water and investment capital. Thus the first hundred years of San Diego’s history was a search for a viable town-site, while the second hundred years was a search for a viable urban economy. 1. Mission San Diego de Alcala was born in 1769 with the construction of a small military hut on the hill overlooking the river. The original Mission building was moved six miles upriver in 1774. This pencil drawing by H.C. Ford from 1883 shows the fourth of the church buildings on that site. (San Diego History Center)

2. A symbol of San Diego’s episodic history, by the early 20th century the Mission was in ruin, and only restored after a public outcry and a campaign for donations to finance its re-construction. (San Diego History Center)

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He sold urban lots and invested in a state of the art pier at what would become the foot of Fifth Avenue, and in a few short years, both a vital port and a real downtown emerged. Some of the city’s finest buildings were built in a hurry along Fifth and adjacent streets, a surprising number of them preserved today as the Gaslamp Quarter. Up the hill, City Council set aside a huge reserve, which became Balboa Park and the site of the 1915 PanamaCalifornia Exposition. New streetcar lines ran north and north-west of downtown, making San Diego suburban before it was urban. 3

2 3. The layouts of San Diego in both the Spanish Colonial period (Presidio, Mission), and the Mexican Period (Old Town) had failed largely because they failed to connect a downtown directly to a working port. Horton bought a sloping site down to the harbor and laid out his “Addition Plan,” selling lots and investing in a state of the art pier at the foot of Fifth. At last, timing was right and San Diego boomed. (San Diego History Center)

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RETHINK THREE

1942

Navy Town From its earliest years San Diego always was a Navy town. But as the world shifted from a 19th century focus on the Atlantic Ocean to a 20th century one on the Pacific, the United States Navy became the most significant employer and its payroll and purchases become the core of the urban economy. The importance of the Navy to San Diego’s urban identity was propelled into another dimension after Pearl Harbor, with most of the docks converted to military use, as were the surrounding downtown blocks. Between 1940 and 1942 the city’s population boomed, growing from 200,000 to 300,000, meaning a broad wave of new housing construction that surged up the mesas and to the other side of the Valley. San Diego grew up fast through this period, and thought things would be clear sailing from then on. 4

RETHINK FOUR

Cold War Contracting 4. Aerial shot showing all of the waterfront and nearly every available corner of downtown dedicated to assembling men and materiel for the war effort. The Navy’s importance continued right through the 1960s, and for a while defence contracting sustained the economic momentum. (San Diego History Center)

5. This is a July, 1936 aerial view of Lane Field at where Broadway meets the waterfront. The baseball field was built in 1935 as a home for the Padres on a former Navy athletics ground, and funded as a depression-era WPA public infrastructure project, with construction completed in just two months. (San Diego History Center)

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1974

The 1950s to 80s were a surprisingly difficult time for downtown, given this early success. Wartime military housing had been largely suburban, not downtown. Encouraged by private housing tract developers and the closing of the streetcar system in 1949, San Diegans increasingly established car-oriented households north of Mission Valley, and shopped at the malls there. The construction of I-5 cut a path dangerously close to downtown’s heart, separating it from Balboa Park and key uphill and eastern neighborhoods. The University of California at San Diego emerged as a global center of bio-sciences research, but the jobs and houses for this emerging industry clustered there, not downtown. The Navy relocated some of its operations, and there was a general decline in defense and aerospace investment in the region.

6. For the half century after World War II, the bulk of San Diego’s new housing and retail construction was north of the Valley and east of downtown, as in this 1950s view of new housing on Kearny Mesa. (San Diego History Center)

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Downtown Rebuilds 7

1985

Downtown needed a rethink again, and because of strong civic leadership, a rethink it got, authoring a ‘Second Act’ in the life of this American city. There was a new move to invest in downtown, and to improve its planning, streetscapes and safety, with the new Center City Development Corporation (CCDC) cutting red tape. There was huge investment in the 1989 Arthur Erickson-designed Convention Center, followed by the Embarcadero’s convention hotels. The Jerde Partnership-designed Horton Plaza brought Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, restaurants and shops into the heart of downtown in 1985, and the developer was Ernie Hahn, owner of Fashion Valley, so clearly the tides were changing. Citizens and businesses united to form street care programs to make downtown cleaner and safer. In 1997 the Red Line light rail transit to Tijuana opened, increasing linkages and visits to the sister city across la frontera. More recently, the construction of a downtown main library and the nearby Petco Field demonstrate confidence in the future of downtown.

1980

Downtown in Decline

Inevitably, the streets of downtown San Diego soon bore sad witness to these economic and urban shifts. Because of changes to mental health, housing and welfare policies there was a huge rise of homelessness nationally, with many of these people choosing to relocate to this region’s forgiving and sunny climate.

7. Views of the area south of Broadway in its period of decline, when bars, brothels and adult entertainment shops increasingly defined the area to San Diegans. (San Diego History Center)

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With the former docks area of the Embarcadero undergoing redevelopment, the area between there and the Gaslamp Quarter became the location of parking lots and marginal businesses. Suburban parents said they thought the streets below Broadway were unsafe—calling it “Stingaree” for the likelihood of a scam, theft or all-round no-good in the area—and told their teenagers not to go there. With thriving suburbs but a weak heart, what could be done?

8. Designer Jon Jerde was dedicated to lively and engaging public spaces. His main pedestrian street at the core of Horton plaza was inspired by Italian sources, and is one of the more successful Post-Modernist public spaces in the nation. (Jerde Partnership)

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RETHINK SEVEN

Humanizing Streets

2001

Bosa’s first San Diego building site was largely surrounded by parking lots south of Market Street, between First and Front. Working with CCDC (later called “Civic San Diego”), it was determined this block could accommodate two residential towers, but the real issue was: how to design a lively and amenable street level?

RETHINK SIX

1998

A Dialogue of Cities San Diego clearly now needed more residents and activity on its downtown streets, but how could this be designed? Civic leaders and designers went up to Vancouver, British Columbia to look at things, returning with keen talk about how the Canadians might have a solution for fostering a vital core.

9. Bosa Development often leads in turning around marginal areas of downtowns, here with their pioneering City Gate at the eastern end of Vancouver’s False Creek. (Bosa Development)

10. Vancouver’s thin residential tower on townhouse podium development from the 1990s are exemplified by James Cheng’s design for 888 Beach, one of the projects that inspired Bosa’s own early projects in San Diego. (JKMCA Architects)

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The solution to this was devised by Bosa’s architect, Hossein Amanat, who adapted Vancouver’s newly-evolved tower-andpodium residential format to San Diego, employing bolder colors and richer textures than up north. The artfully-detailed townhouses would make streets animated, active and in consequence, safer. Bosa’s Horizons succeeded beyond the expectations of everyone, and subsequent projects (some by other Vancouver developers and/or architects) have imitated its success. Because of design and not just because it was the first of downtown’s new wave of residential development, Horizons set Southern California’s gold standard for downtowntransforming developments. 11

“Vancouverism” traded density for amenity, allowing higher buildings if developers paid for public benefits. A reverse flow then started between the two cities, beginning with the arrival of Nat Bosa, a successful Vancouver high rise residential developer, followed by some colleagues, all of them deeply impressed with downtown San Diego’s potential. Bosa was one of the first out of the gate, buying a number of prime building sites, and his confidence in the potential of San Diego was profound. These Vancouver linkages shape the next period of downtown development. 10 11. For the first time in San Diego, Bosa decided to ring much of the block with townhouses, each with a door opening directly on to the street—a connection that would make things more humane, more humanscaled—and in accord with the ideas of influential urbanist Jane Jacobs. (Hossein Amanat Architect)

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RETHINK EIGHT

2009

Density with Dignity Bosa’s 2009 “Bayside,” is as elegant and sophisticated a new building as downtown had seen in decades, the rethink here being the notion of increased living density achieved through housing design finesse with a superior palette of materials. Amanat’s design scales up the podium from Horizon’s two story painted concrete to four stories through the use of ‘stacked townhouses’—the placement of a second tier of townhomes above the first, reached via a raised garden at the amenity level, and then wraps the major elevations with warm-colored stone as cladding. The views at this extreme south-western corner of the entire continental United States are spectacular, whether east into the ever-changing downtown skyline, south and west to the Embarcadero and the sparkling waters and wave patterns of San Diego Bay. Beside the water, embracing a major street, living the urban life, linked into transportation, Bayside is a summary statement of a maturing downtown.

VISIONARY THINKING Our sequence of downtown rethinks now passes from completed initiatives to new designs and buildings currently underway—from San Diego’s past to its future. The corner of Pacific Highway and Broadway will soon become one of the key gateways for all of downtown. Bosa acquired the southeast corner property and began discussions with civic officials about what their hopes would be for this strategic downtown location. When it was apparent that innovative architecture with landmark qualities were wanted, Bosa interviewed a number of architects, and eventually selected the globally-renowned firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) of New York to design the tower for what is now called “Pacific Gate”.

Our goal is to do our part, along with other architects and projects, to make a larger success out of a part of the city that’s growing and changing.

”

12. Early sketches exploring options for the townhouses. At first these appear to be directly related to Horizons, but with a shift from two to four stories in the podium through use of stacked townhouses, this component becomes a clear and present urban edge. (Hossein Amanat Architect)

13. Overall view of Bayside after completion, showing the tower set on the stone-clad stacked townhouse base along Pacific Highway. (Bosa Development)

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I wanted to give San Diego the best buildings on the West Coast, and I intend to do that.

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Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is a global architecture practice dedicated to a core group of clients that represent some of the most ambitious developers, entrepreneurs and institutions around the world – visionaries that believe in contributing to the built environment, shaping our communities, and enabling our progress.

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Nat Bosa

Founder, Bosa Development

Jamie von Klemperer

President & Design Principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF)

Shanghai World Financial Center Shanghai, China

Sixty London London, UK

One Jackson Square New York, USA

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RETHINK NINE

2011

Landmark Urban Design This site at the southeast corner of Pacific Highway and Broadway is the highly visible ‘front porch’ for all of downtown San Diego. Nonetheless, this prime locale had sat empty for decades because it was proposed for commercial uses in an era of limited residential demand.

The rethink from Bosa Development was to propose a change to mixed use: welcoming a needed retail experience at ground level, with condominium suites for the 41 stories above. For their part, the city official’s rethink was that this must be a landmark design with the highest architectural standards, that its design character complement possible future office towers nearby, and that a public plaza must be created along Broadway.

14. Scheme 1 by KPF for the prominent San Diego site is a boxy tower that tapers in sections as it rises, with extended decks and fins punctuating its verticality. City planners had expressed some interest in a design that would complement potential office towers that might be constructed nearby, so the initial architectural expression here is something of a hybrid between the firm’s office towers and previous San Diego residential towers by other firms, with a variation adding more balconies. (KPF)

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PACIFIC

BROADWAY BROADWAY BROADWAY

PACIFIC

BROADWAY BROADWAY BROADWAY

PACIFIC

BROADWAY BROADWAY BROADWAY

The initial urban design studies by Kohn Pedersen Fox— the prominent New York firm granted their first San Diego commission here—explored possible locations for a boxy tower that would respect the plaza site, deal with vistas to and from the waterfront, and arrange for drop-off and parking access from E Street. From this ‘Scheme 2’ was produced, which was a simple re-alignment of the boxy tower with the goal of increasing the water views available to residents. While ‘Scheme 1’ and especially ‘Scheme 2’ dealt with the urban design practicalities, neither option had the architectural strength to shape a landmark tower for San Diego. A more sculptural ‘Scheme 3’ was devised, but its particular curves presented practical problems.

15. Scheme 2 is a variation on Scheme 1, with massing re-ordered to take better advantage of the site for both neighbors and future tower residents. (KPF) 16. Scheme 3 is the first curving design for the site, with two long and two short curving bulges projecting out from the building services core. Other variations propose different curves in plan for each of the four quadrants, while all schemes include a curving retail podium. Because this form presented problems in apartment layouts, it was rejected. (KPF)

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RETHINK ELEVEN

Lobby Appointments

2015

Both planners and developers wanted extensive retail on ground level at Pacific Gate to animate the area, and an ultra-clear glass was chosen for windows here, so activity by day or night would be easy to see for all.

RETHINK TEN

2013

Oceanic Built Form The rethink here is architectural, emerging from the resources and evolving design palette possessed solely by a large and diverse firm like KPF. From Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry, the best architects evolve similar design ideas through multiple commissions, incrementally improving their art in a theme and variation fashion for different clients.

17. Freehand early pencil sketches by project design architect Jamie von Klemperer showing typical high rise floor plan and building podium floor plan for the definitive scheme. (KPF)

18. This rendering of the complete and final design for Pacific Gate shows its curtain wall construction wrapped around what the architects call a double-arc plan. The oval shape maximizes views and a sense of openness for residents. (KPF in association with CDA)

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In a similar breakthrough, a design partner thought that the innovative ideas in a previous KPF design study for an oval-shaped office tower would work even better if adapted to the special needs of this San Diego site. The long axis of the oval was set on a diagonal alignment to increase water-facing views, and the floor plans were adapted into two “nested arcs,” creating dramatically sharp ‘prows’ and room for balconies at either end. With Bosa’s successful pioneering of residential podia at other San Diego projects, a low-rise wing was added, supporting a south-facing rooftop pool and amenity area. This tower alignment and shape maximizes residential views while respecting urban needs. The gateway qualities of the tower will be enhanced by its ovoid form, and its semi-reflective aluminum mullions will crisply catch the sunlight at any time of day or season. The architects use metaphors of seashells and ocean waves when explaining this design, not so much that this condominium tower is directly inspired by them, but because we all appreciate these natural forms, understanding their beauty is also functional.

As a slick monumentality—tempered by the sinuous curves—was the design strategy for Pacific Gate’s main tower, a richer and more symbolic palette was chosen by KPF for lobby and drop-off area appointments. Many of the high-touch, high-contact areas at grade are covered with a Jura Beige limestone, warming them to the touch and to the eyes. A feature wall in terra cotta and wood will dominate the arrivals experience, and pavers will make for a continuity of pedestrian and arrival spaces on all sides. Low retaining walls and wooden benches will be arrayed on a spiral geometry curving out from the building’s central plan. Inside, wavy panels of cast glass will ring the lobby, diffusing light. The floor surface will be spectacular, with white terrazzo flecked with grey and black aggregate, with brass circles cast within its matrix. Pacific Gate’s nature-inspired interior details will enforce the bold west coast character of the design, a strikingly contemporary reworking of the natural beauty treasured by every San Diegan. 19 TREE

SEA

SUN

EARTH

19. This early lobby design study from KPF of the Pacific Gate lobby shows how the four nature-derived themes of ‘tree, sea, sun and earth’ have informed their choice of natural materials and design details there. (KPF in association with CDA)

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RETHINK THIRTEEN

A Neighborhood Reconceived

2020

There is a return to the city theme in this final rethink. Downtown San Diego has been continuously in flux, so much so in the recent past that it becomes hard to see where it is going.

2015

RETHINK TWELVE

Framing Views Most contemporary residential towers—including the previous half dozen built in San Diego by Bosa—use a construction system called ‘Window Wall.’ ‘Curtain Wall’ construction is more expensive, but provides for the seamless skin and design flexibility KPF needed to execute Pacific Gate’s double-arc oval design. The most important problems to solve in curtain wall construction are the choice of glass used in the window units, and the design of the vertical mullions, which support and connect them back to the main building structure. In order to minimize their impacts on resident’s views from their suites along the gently curving sides of the tower, the design of the window mullions is a perfect illustration of a rethink in action. Over months of patient development, these mullions were made more slender, and less intrusive into interior spaces. Ultimately, they have a gently tapering shape, giving sharp visual definition to the tower as they rise through 41 stories on the outside, and elegantly frame views for residents on the inside.

20. Detail of one of KPF’s renderings of the top of Pacific Gate, showing the continuous curtain wall using a high efficiency, energy-conserving glass, supporting by tapering, aluminum-wrapped mullions. (KPF)

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The drawing in the openable gatefold at the end of this publication is an artist’s imagining of what the neighborhood around Pacific Highway and Broadway could look like in the near future, after the completion of new hotels, the continuation of the visionary North Embarcadero Esplanade Plan, the finishing of planting street trees, and so on. This rendered plan, plus the call-out drawings on this page show how these places—natural and man-made, hard-surfaced and soft—will be home to a huge range of activities, from concerts, to sales, to art, to yoga on the decks of the Midway. We have removed some of the roofs here, so that you can better see how indoor activities will spill out and enliven the streets and plazas around them. New hotels and restaurants will be opening to serve tourists and residents alike, and the variety of walks, parks and vistas is tremendous. If you doubt the power of the San Diego rethinks, please accept our challenge—re-read the previous dozen. We think you’ll agree we have a better city now, because of the dedication of generations of citizens using design to improve urban life for all.

21. Clockwise from upper left: 21

A roof-off view of the KPF-designed Pacific Gate development by Bosa, showing the drop-off zone at left, the radiating spirals of the lobby and retail area, and at right, a new public plaza donated by Bosa. Another roof-off look, this one already existing, the bars, restaurants and patios of Headquarters at Seaport, the adaptive re-use of the former San Diego Police Station. Next to County Hall is the County Waterfront Park with its active play zone catering to the city’s youngest residents. An area of the rejuvenation of the North Embarcadero creating a public space for all residents and guests to enjoy at the foot of Broadway.

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Cities are machines for making collaboration easier.

of college-educated 25 to 34-year-olds said they looked for a job after they chose the city where they wanted to live.

43%

CITY LIVING/HOUSING

of Americans with bachelor’s degrees chose to live in 20 metropolitan areas in 2010.

200

By 2050 about 70% of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas and over 60% of the land projected to become urban by 2030 is yet to be built.

Fortune 500 companies are currently head-quartered in t he top 50 cities.

Companies locating or expanding in city centers

80%

In San Diego by 2035, 80% of new housing will be within 0.5 miles of transit stations.

of venture investment in three metros, New York, Austin and San Diego, are accounted for in the city center.

San Diego ranks third out of Top 10 markets for concentration of millennials.

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TRANSPORT/ENERGY

The millennials and the boomers are looking for the same thing. Amy Levner, Manager of AARP’s Livable Communities

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Both millennials and baby boomers are gravitating to dense urban cores near restaurants, shops, movie theaters and public transportation.

Access to talent is key. Technology workers are drawn to urban environments.

ECONOMY

80% Construction of residences with five or more apartment units— multiplexes, condominiums, high-rises—have reached their highest share of overall construction since 1973.

Edward Glaeser, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard

Both young workers and retiring Boomers are actively seeking to live in densely packed, mixed-use communities that don’t require cars.

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Compact cities, connected a nd coordinated can unleash productivity and growth opportunities, while minimizing harm to the climate. Helen Mountford, Global Programme Director for the New Climate Economy

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For the first time since the 1920’s growth in US cities outpaces growth outside of them.

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64%

All around the world, downtowns are seeing a revival. New residents have made decisions that the highest quality of life, the easiest access to employment and cultural options, and the most efficient use of land and energy is to live in compact and well-designed city centers. Here we have collected some facts, figures and quotations to provide a global context for why more and more people are deciding to live “Behind San Diego’s Skyline”.

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RETURN TO CITY CENTERS

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DOWNTOWN NOW As a snap-shot of downtown San Diego’s vitality today, Bosa commissioned a local photographer to document its streets and people. We wanted a leading-edge visual record of a leading-edge city, so we asked Instagrammer David Flores / @kiddradi to capture downtown’s sense of place created by the buildings, transportation, public spaces and of course, its citizens. On these pages are a sampling of the images in the exhibition gallery.

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1. Central Library 2. First Avenue & Front Street 3. Embarcadero 4. Fifth Avenue & B Street 5. Island Avenue 6. Broadway Pier

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These draft materials are confidential and intended for training purposes only and are subject to amendment from time to time without notice. These materials may not be disclosed, shared, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, broadcast or communicated, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Bosa Development California II, Inc. Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rendering of Pacific Gate at dusk

Credits Bosa Downtown Residential Project Credits

Rethink Exhibition Creative Team Credits

For Bosa Development California

Design Architect for Pacific Gate

Exhibition Creative Design

Project Marketing

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) New York, NY kpf.com

Wordsearch London, UK & New York, NY wordsearch.co.uk

S&P Real Estate Vancouver, BC sprealestate.com

Architect of Record for Pacific Gate

Exhibition Videos

Public Relations

Chris Dikeakos Architects (CDA) Vancouver, BC dikeakos.com

River Film London, UK riverfilm.com

Relevance Public Relations Los Angeles, CA & San Diego, CA relevancepublicrelations.com

Design Architect for Horizons & Bayside

Exhibition Curator & Catalog Editor

Developer

Hossein Amanat Architect Vancouver, BC amanatarchitect.com

Trevor Boddy Vancouver, BC trevorboddy.ca

Bosa Development California II, Inc. Vancouver, BC bosadev.com

Exhibition Gallery Interior Design Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) San Francisco, CA hba.com

Thanks Special thanks to the numerous San Diegans who helped make this catalog, exhibition and related public programming possible, including, but not limited to the following:

Dizzle Frank Ducote Urban Design The Jerde Partnership La Jolla Historical Society The London Group Realty Advisors Madigan Consulting, Inc. NewSchool of Architecture and Design Photography Collection at San Diego History Center

Port of San Diego RAD Lab Red Door Interactive Downtown San Diego Partnership San Diego State University San Diego History Center University of San Diego

This is not an offer to sell but intended for information only. Rendering, photography, illustrations, floor plans, amenities, finishes and other information described herein are representative only and are not intended to reflect any specific feature, amenity, unit condition or view when built. No representation and warranties are made with regard to the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information published herein. The developer reserves the right to make modifications in materials, specifications, plan, pricing, designs, scheduling and delivery without prior notice. Represented by Resort Dynamics CalBRE# 1493406

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