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Children’s Museum in Place, Thanks to Largest Crane in the West

A bounty of buildings around San Diego County are either going up, grandly opening or getting greenlighted

Going Up: Some 24 concrete panels were raised Sept. 11 for the $25 million, 50,000-square-foot Children’s Museum/Museo de los Ninos San Diego downtown.

The panels, some as large as 52 feet by 20 feet, were tilted into place with the help of the largest crane on the West Coast, according to the museum folks. Equipped with a 293-foot-long boom and a 950-ton capacity, the crane lifted the massive slabs, some weighing as much as 80 tons.

A second and final set of 24 wall panels will be lifted into place next month.

Designed by San Diego architect Rob Wellington Quigley as the first “green” building in downtown San Diego, this latest incarnation of the popular attraction is located at 200 W. Island Ave., and includes art galleries, the Museum Charter School, a sit-down caf & #233;, and a variety of artsy activities for kids.

Meanwhile, the county of San Diego, the cities of Poway and Santee, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the Friends of Sycamore Canyon Goodan Ranch Open Space Preserve broke ground Sept. 12 on construction of a $1.4 million center at the preserve.

The one-story, 3,200-square-foot building will be “green,” designed to promote energy efficiency and minimize the impact on the natural environment, according to the county.

San Diego-based Platt/Whitelaw Architects Inc. is working on the design for the center, which will include an exhibit and display area, a large meeting room and staff offices.

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Grand Openings: McCarthy Building Cos. Inc.’s San Diego office recently completed interior construction for the expansion and renovation of the $17 million biomedical library at UC San Diego in La Jolla.

The project, which had its grand re-opening Sept. 14, included the addition of 39,000 square feet of space to the existing library, as well as renovation of the attached structure. Built in 1969 to serve 800, the existing library has now doubled in size, serving more than 4,000 students, faculty and visitors.

Cuyamaca College in El Cajon recently marked the topping off on a major construction phase for its $18.9 million student center.

The last steel beam to go up features the signatures and slogans of students, faculty, staff and other well-wishers.

The student center construction fund has grown to $748,000, fed by a $1 to $5 assessment per semester, approved by students 17 years ago. That money is supplemented by proceeds from Proposition R, the local bond measure backed by East County voters in 2002 to help pay for new construction and facilities fixes at Cuyamaca and Grossmont colleges.

Meanwhile, Douglas Wilson Cos. is hosting a topping-out ceremony Sept. 28 for the Mark, placing the final steel beam on the 33rd story of the mixed-use development on Eighth Avenue between Market and Island streets.

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Greenlighted: The California Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 7 unanimously approved construction of a $20 million pedestrian bridge at Park Boulevard and Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego.

The bridge will complete a 100-year-old vision of a park-to-bay link, connecting Balboa Park and San Diego Bay, according to the Centre City Development Corp., which oversees development for San Diego.

It will be designed to provide a safe crossing over the heavily traveled Harbor Drive and existing train and trolley tracks, improving traffic circulation and access to and from the waterfront, Barrio Logan, and the developing East Village neighborhood. It also will connect the 2,000-space Hilton San Diego Convention Center Hotel parking facility with Park Boulevard.

The project is expected to begin construction in 2007, with completion targeted in 2008.

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Big Deals: Equastone, a Carlsbad-based private equity real estate firm, has added still more properties to its rapidly growing Texas portfolio with three North Dallas office complexes.

They are the eight-story, 158,650-square-foot Landmark; the six-story, 74,125-square-foot Emerald Plaza; and the five-story, 86,646-square-foot 14850 Quorum Drive, all with parking facilities.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Since October, Equastone has acquired 13 office and flex buildings in Texas that total more than 2.3 million square feet.

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Northern Exposure: The median price for all homes in North County , single-family detached and single-family attached , decreased to $555,000 in August from $565,000 in July.

According to the North San Diego County Association of Realtors’ HomeDex report, the median-priced single-family detached home in North County fell to $628,750 in August from $635,000 in July. Elsewhere in the county, single-family detached median prices fell to $543,000 in August from $549,500 in July.

The median-priced single-family attached homes in North County rose to $387,500 in August from $359,000 in July; while elsewhere in the county, SFA prices rose to $354,500 in August from $346,290 in July.

But despite the inevitable ebbs and flows of the marketplace, the Building Industry Association of San Diego and the San Diego Association of Realtors on Sept. 15 announced that they have launched a campaign to educate consumers on “the power of homeownership and why they should buy now.”

“I am encouraged that we have a buyers’ market for the first time in five years,” said Charles Jolly, SDAR president.

The campaign, consisting of print and radio ads, will run through 2006.

Send residential and commercial real estate news to pbroderick@sdbj.com or via fax at (858) 571-3628.

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