SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Comic-Con 2024 is in the books. On Monday, crews began cleaning out the San Diego Convention Center, removing advertisements that wrapped downtown buildings.
Despite big events like Comic-Con, there’s a struggle to fill downtown buildings on an everyday basis.
However, a $511 million skyscraper opened on Thursday at 1011 Union Street, near the central courthouse. Developed by the Holland Partner Group, the building is 37 floors high with office space, retail, apartments, a rooftop deck, and a pool.
Yet it's going in an area with nearly the highest office vacancy rate in the county.
Downtown's newest skyscraper is different than others. It’s mixed-use and is described by Holland Partners as downtown's "first true mixed-use tower."
“Downtown right now is somewhat of a playground for adults, and that's going to change,” says architect David McCullough, principal at McCullough Landscape Architecture.
McCullough says buildings like this are what downtown needs.
“What makes a downtown lively is when you have a wide spectrum of personalities and people downtown.”
Like other big cities, workers have left downtown San Diego offices for less urban areas.
Data from commercial real estate agency JLL shows that downtown office buildings are currently 27% vacant, compared to less than 14% for the county average.
“Until you figure out homelessness, until you figure out safety, until you figure out cleanliness, people aren't going to want to flock to downtown as much,” says Tim Olson, senior managing director and market lead for JLL’s San Diego office.
How many similar mixed-use towers will be built afterward could depend on its success.
But West has already locked SANDAG into a lease for a quarter of the ground floor, as well as the third and fourth floors for approximately 400 employees.
McCullough believes this is part of downtown progressing and maturing and could be what the area needs to bring people back from other parts of the county.
“The mixes need to change. There needs to be a diversity of users, and I think that's about to happen here.”
Apartments in the new high-rise are still available but are not cheap. The least expensive available apartment starts at more than $2,900 per month for a 407-square-foot studio.
