I would highly recommend anyone wanting to buy downtown as their primary residence rent first and determine if its the right lifestyle. There are also so many different dynamics within downtown. South of Broadway the neighborhoods are: Marina, Gaslamp, Ballpark and East Village. Columbia, Little Italy, Cortez Hill are a different dynamic. Each pocket offers something different, so you really have to get a feel for the various parts of downtown before buying.
The older marina district between G and Harbor – in my opinion have the nicest buildings – Renaissance, Pinnacle, Cityfront Terrace, Meridian, Horizons, City Walk, and Harbor Club although I think that is technically Gaslamp. Its perhaps easier to get in and out of that area as well with the proximity to Harbor Drive, PCH, and getting to the 5. If you have the budget, this is where I’d highly recommend you focus your search.
There are very few condo buildings in the Gaslamp itself compared to the other areas. Its also quite loud given many of the buildings are surrounded by restaurants and bars.
I believe the Ballpark district has a lot of potential, but is still defining itself as a neighborhood with restaurants, bars, amenities coming in within walking distance. A few years ago that area was just as shady as the East Village, but its getting better. Although there are still a number of “cheap” run down motels with questionable characters and sanity.
Beyond those areas, I’d have to say the buildings going up on the “periphery” where are isolated and less desirable. One of pros I would assume of being in urban living is being able to walk to amenities without feeling unsafe. Such buildings as Smart Corner, Palermo, Union Square, and the one on 11th right before the 163 are examples of questionable safety given the people lurking there.
The things to consider downtown – traffic traffic traffic. There are huge conferences at the Convention Center, Padres season, weekend bar & club scene, day trippers coming of the cruise ships, business travelers, etc.
There is a lack of grocery stores unless you want to shop at ghetto Ralph’s or Albertsons which is very nice inside but has lots of homeless people peeing on the sidewalk – and even if you point that out to a cop, they don’t stop the behavior. And yes of course the homeless.
Many of the restaurants do cater to tourism so there are far fewer good ones suprisingly given the density of restaurants.
The trolley and train noise. If you live anywhere close to either, the odds are you are going to hear the trains honking very loudly at all hours including 3am if you leave your windows open.
Within a specific building, how many are “young” renters that party and can be disrespectful towards other tenants or trash the building? How many foreclosures and defaults? I would also strongly question the quality of the construction of buildings that were “thrown” up during the run up. There are a few buildings I know of that have construction defect issues. Is the parking for the building mixed use? Meaning for owners and public in nature? I don’t know too many buildings as such but I believe there are a few.
Trojan – I think if you’re looking at the retirement option and proximity to a flight out of town, you might want to consider Point Loma, Mission Hills/Hillcrest, Bankers Hill ( east of the flight path). I think it will also have an older crowd that won’t be partying so much! Should you want to hit a ballgame or night out, a very convenient cab ride downtown.
