I live in Liberty Station, and I can certainly say that it is an awesome place to live, as long as you can get used to the airplanes taking off at Lindbergh field from 6am to 11:30pm at night. I’m not being sarcastic at all, it took me a good 3 months to get to the point where it doesn’t irritate me, and it has just become background noise.
With that said, it’s a very walkable neighborhood (except on Sunday when thousands of cars invade our neighborhood for the Rock Church)… There is Trader Joe’s, Starbucks (2 actually!), Vons will open in a couple weeks (major grocery chain here in So Cal), Panera Bread, La Salsa, Wine Steals (upscale wine bar), Subway, Massage Envy, etc. There is a small inlet which connects directly into the San Diego Bay right at the end of our park, where if you like to kayak you can just drop your kayak right into the water and stroll around the bay…. The water front park is going to be like 43 acres when finished, but even the current park now is huge.
I’ve watched the values go up, and level off, and now they are starting to slip. I think that the values are dramatically different around the neighborhood because they are all brand new construction, and many home buyers bought upgrades in excess of 100k of their purchase price, while others bought the “Stock” models with the white tile counter tops, cheap cabinets, and linoleum floors in the bath and kitchens. In addition, a small number of the units face the park and have a beautiful view of downtown and the water, while others have no view at all. Corner units also carry a premium since they are the largest ones and have the best floor plan layout.
It’s really hard to say what will happen. No neighborhood is bullet proof, but if you love liberty station, try renting here first. Last time I saw a story in the Trib about it, about 30-40% of the units were purchased as “investment” properties, and are rentals, so you should be able to find a nice unit for rent. I’m not sure what rents are, I’m guessing probably at least $2000 a month for a 3 bedroom 2 bath unit, but I could be wrong.
In summary, pros of LS:
-Walk to grocery stores and restaurants
-Easy access to the San Diego Bay
-Beautiful park
-Friendly neighbors
-Easy access to ocean, sunset cliffs, etc (5 minutes away)
Cons:
-Airport noise
-Price to buy ($550-750k for most of the condos (which are more laid out like townhouses), 850-950k for the row homes, and 1million+ for the detached homes with a SMALL yard)
-Church traffic on Sundays, thousands of cars, over 7000 people driving up and down the streets every Sunday!
