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Downtown San Diego has been in a
constant state of reinvention for the past
30 years. The original catalyst was the
delivery of Horton Plaza in 1985, which was
followed by a new waterfront Convention
Center in 1989 and the restoration of the
Gaslamp Quarter in the 1990s. With each
new project came successive waves of
residential high-rise development that
added thousands of housing units and
transformed the city’s skyline. With the
2004 completion of Petco Park, the path of
redevelopment continued to move
eastward into what was once the industrial
underbelly of San Diego, and that trend
continues today in the East Village.
The East Village is situated between the
Gaslamp District to the west and Interstate
5 to the east, and extends northward from
Harbor Drive to Balboa Park. This former
industrial area fell into neglect in the 1970s
and continued its downward spiral until
discovered by the local arts community in
the 1990s. But its renaissance did not pick
up much steam until the arrival of Petco
Park. Now, most of the East Village’s
warehouses have been converted into lofts,
galleries, restaurants, and shops. The area
has few trendy retailers or vintage shops;
instead, the retail revolution (so far) has
been driven by creative dining concepts
and a collection of craft beer and cocktail
venues that regularly attract locals,
tourists, and the post-game crowd from
the ballpark.
The Village is poised for rapid growth
ahead with thousands of housing units
either already under construction or in
various stages of proposal. Local
partnership The IDEA (Innovation, Design,
Education and Arts) District plans to add
at least 13,000 design and tech jobs in the
East Village over the next 12 years as it
pursues a vision of a sustainable live/work/
play neighborhood. The organization
intends on doing this through a mix of new
projects ranging from creative office to
retail/restaurant space and startup housing
— some of which are already under
construction (Maker’s Quarter, IDEA1).
Projects in the pipeline essentially
guarantee the emergence of the East
Village as one of the West Coast’s major
new Cool Streets over the next couple of
years. Should plans to build a new football
stadium for the San Diego Chargers here
actually come to fruition (a proposal will
be on the ballot in November), the East
Village’s total retail transformation could
happen virtually overnight.
32.7%
Millennial Population
$74,414
Average
Household Income
East Village:
San Diego’s Next Reinvention