The city might give them a break on parking requirements in exchange for the affordable housing units. It’s possible that the project was designed and approved for affordable housing to begin with. Only the names have changed.
Another possibility is that the other parking spaces are being leased from an offsite parking provider. It could even be one of the other condo projects nearby.
I think the interim rental route might end up being the preferred solution for those projects that can stay out of foreclosure. Of course, if you get a lot of rental projects in the area, especially those that involve affordable housing, it kind of takes the shine off the glossy downtown urban lifestyle these developers have been trying to sell.
I never doubted that there would be some people who would gravitate towards living in the downtown area, but I never thought it would be enough people to economically justify all those units these developers were dumping on the market. Aside from the artificial stimulus provided by the specuvestors between 2003-2005 the real numbers of homeowners down there has been underwhelming.
I don’t think most people will move downtown unless those units are a lot cheaper than units of comparable size/quality located in the burbs. As for me, if I was going to live in a high-rise I’d gravitate more towards Mission Valley. Take the trolley when I want to go drinking. Mission Valley is lots quieter and the bum factor is almost zero.