[quote=bearishgurl]I don’t think MM qualifies as “old enough” to be “gentrified.” And there’s no compelling architecture there that “higher demographics” would move in to “preserve.”
City Heights actually has a “WWII” and “mid-century” commercial corridor on EC Blvd that is kind of spruced up now with the cut-and-cover parks over I-15. A new “mid-century look” community rec center and swimming pool and the Joan Kroc Ice Rink near Colima Park rounds out the city improvements.
A lot of cute, rehabbed craftsman and even Spanish are found in CH as well, small in size (compared to adjacent communities with more expensive housing).
MM just has a conglomerate of newer mid-rise commercial bldgs and chain hotels on the east end, all bunched-in together. It just looks sterile and extremely crowded to me. 92126 is all on tract as well (except maybe ONE street). There is really no reason to rehab anything there for a “labor of love” as there are no pocket doors and redwood built-ins around the FP to save, etc.
There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s not the sort of area that gets “gentrified.”
I agree that MM is probably better to raise a family in than City Heights, however.
SK is right. MM is within the “city” but is actually a “suburb” as it is separated from the “metro” portion of SD by MCAS Miramar.[/quote]
This is a good post, I think parts of CH will gentrify the next 10-20 yrs (the parts that border better areas). There are some cool pre WW II houses in CH. The hipsters are already starting to move into some fringe parts. CH borders North Park, South Park, Normal Heights, Kensington. It will take a while though, some parts of CH are very, very rough still.
North Park, South Park, Normal Heights, Univ Heights are classic examples of recent gentrification in SD. These areas have blown up in price and you post a rental on Craigslist and it’s rented in like a day to high credit tenants. I know I have a rental down there. The houses and 2-4 units properties really held their values during the downturn. A lot of the crafstmans and 2-4 units are not far off 2004/2005 peak pricing (and some are back at peak). To me this area + some parts of Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, Mission Hills is the coolest place to live in all of SD if you don’t have kids. It’s the only part of SD that is anything like hip, walkable cities like Portland, Seattle, SF, Austin TX (only the older core part of Austin), Brooklyn NY, etc.. This is also one of the few parts of SD that has some cool pre WW II houses and old style little “down towns”. I lived there before I blew out of SD to greener pastures in Seattle WA.
And I agree on Mira Mesa, I have never seen anything desirable about this area other than it’s location close to tech jobs. It is not architecturally attractive at all. Most of the houses are “blah” cookie cutter. It’s full of unattractive strip centers off MM Blvd and big box stores close to 15. I would personally never, ever live there. Very sterile. It would be too hard on the eyes.
