Word on the Street
Little Italy Not So Little
More luxury apartments and condos will rise from a block in Little Italy.
The Alexan Little Italy, a five-story complex with 85 units, recently got approval from Civic San Diego. It will take up the block bound by Hawthorn and Grape streets between Columbia and State near Interstate 5, replacing the vacant office buildings currently occupying the site.
Trammell Crow Residential, the developer behind the project, said in a statement it plans to break ground on June 1.
Growth Continues in Little Italy
the project will also bring 4,000 square feet of retail to the neighborhood.
The Alexan will have two levels of parking for nearly 150 cars, 4,000 square feet of retail space, and a large rooftop deck for residents. Each unit will span more than 1,100 square feet, which Trammell Crow said is larger than typical apartments in the neighborhood.
The Alexan development is one of 12 residential and mixed-use projects that are either under construction or planned for the neighborhood. This helpful chart and map that the San Diego Union-Tribune put together shows all of the ongoing and planned developments for downtown San Diego (10,000 new residences!) including the cluster in Little Italy.
Not included in the list is a proposal for a 13th Little Italy development, a 28-story mixed-use complex on India and Beech streets, that Civic San Diego received right before the holiday.
News Bites
- Chula Vista will lose around 100 parking spaces in its downtown area near Third Avenue. The city sold two lots on Church Avenue to developers in an effort to make the area more pedestrian friendly. Critics say the reduction of parking will make the Center Street farmers’ market less accessible for residents.
- Some of San Diego’s major media organizations will soon be in the heart of the city. Voice of San Diego is leaving Liberty Station for its new downtown office next week, and will later celebrate with a guided art walk through the neighborhood. Before the holidays, the Union-Tribune announced its plan to relocate their newsroom from Mission Valley to Sixth and B Street, and expects to move into its new headquarters in May. Both news organizations will be near NBC San Diego and all of us at San Diego Magazine.
- The new lifeguard tower at the Children’s Pool in La Jolla won’t be finished in time for the busy summer season as originally planned. Construction now won’t be completed until the end of the year.
Growth Continues in Little Italy
The new Alexan Little Italy will have 85 residential units, each at around 1,100 square feet. | Images courtesy of Metz PR/Trammell Crow Residential
