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Ballpark East Village redevelopment project evolves with the changing economy

While the vision for redevelopment in Downtown’s East Village neighborhood , spurred by the $452 million San Diego Padres’ ballpark , has not changed, the market is shifting for some of the planned projects.

Three years ago, when voters approved city funding for the ballpark, there was a need for a lot of residential and some office development. Since then, the economy has slowed and companies are reconsidering their needs for new office space.

“Time is your enemy in a project like this,” said John Kratzer, president and chief executive officer of San Diego-based JMI Realty. “The market has changed and the capital markets have changed.”

Leasing the office properties JMI plans to develop alongside the ballpark has been frustrating, Kratzer said. Leasing has been suspended a few times and won’t get back into ballpark is under way. The first phase of Parkloft, developed by San Diego-based The Douglas Wilson Cos., is under construction on Island Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, with steel in place up to the sixth floor. The 11-story, 120-unit loft condominium tower is expected to be completed in the summer of 2002.

Across Island Street, construction on the second phase will begin next year. It is planned to include 180 units in another 11-story tower.

The first phase of JMI’s redevelopment activity in the ballpark district includes the Westin Hotel and Metropolitan Condominiums, a Suites Hotel, East Village Square, Island Village and two 1,000-space parking garages.

Construction at the 33-story, 512-room Westin Hotel is expected to begin again in October and be completed late in 2003. The hotel will include 37 condominiums on the top 11 floors.

The 203-room Suites Hotel at Sixth Avenue and J Street, a boutique hotel, is expected to be under construction in the spring of 2002, with completion anticipated late in 2003.

East Village Square is planned to be a mixed-use project between Seventh and 10th avenues and J and K streets, adjacent to the ballpark. The project is expected to be in various buildings, totaling 300,000 square feet, including 100,000 square feet of retail space.

Construction will begin when the buildings are pre-leased and financing is obtained. Two leases have been signed for 75,400 square feet by San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc. and for 25,000 square feet by Cox Communications.

Island Village is a four-block residential development planned to be built in four phases and include 900 units of condominiums and apartments. A construction schedule has not yet been determined.

JMI is also in the process of planning for Campus at the Park, a 430,000-square-foot technology campus at 12th and Imperial avenues.

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