Oceanside Downtown projects taking off, What slowdown?

Time shares, mixed-use projects ready to open in Oceanside. They will set stage for downtown redevelopment MARGA KELLOGG – Staff Writer of the North County Times brings us this valuable insight on Oceanside changes OCEANSIDE — After years of delay, the Wyndham Timeshare Resort, described by city officials as a cornerstone of downtown redevelopment, will open some of its rooms for a test run next week and open fully toward the end of January, officials said Tuesday. Two other downtown projects that feature a mix of condominiums, retail shops and restaurants will also open in the next few months, city officials said. Oceanside Redevelopment Manager Kathy Baker said the long-awaited projects are pivotal because they’ll add to a growing mix of lodging and housing options near the city’s seaside core. “It will hopefully be a huge economic stimulation for downtown,” Baker said. “All those guests will be wandering, mingling, buying stuff.” The projects have faced little of the opposition that has plagued other key proposals downtown. In the late 1990s, a seaside resort planned by developer Doug Manchester created a huge outcry over its potential affect on public beach access. After a host of problems, the developer’s deal with the city eventually fell apart. Years later, change is apparently coming. Downtown businessman John Daley, a member of the city’s Historic Preservation Committee, said that although some people dislike change, he hasn’t met anyone who wants downtown to stay the way it is. “There’s no question this is definitely a turning point in downtown,” said Daley, and I believe most people in the community think it’s an excellent way to go.” Wyndham Timeshare Formerly known as the Fairfield Resorts, Wyndham’s 168 time-share units are sold out, Baker said. The seven-story project includes 32 hotel rooms and will have a restaurant run by the San Diego-based Cohn Restaurant Group on the ground floor. The resort sits on 1.5 acres just across the street from the Oceanside Municipal Pier at the corner of Civic Center Drive and Pacific Street and has a 180-degree view of the ocean. The resort also has two levels of underground parking and more than 7,000 square feet of commercial space. Company officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday. However, Baker said The resort opened officially toward the end of January, she said. Ocean Village A few blocks away from the Wyndham, the Ocean Village project is poised to open with a mix of 33 condominiums, shops and restaurants, said Ayoub Sesar, the architect, designer and builder project. The condominiums in the project, at the corner of Sportsfisher and Civic Center drives, should go up for sale in February, he said. The project also includes two individual row houses. Sesar, who works out of Orange County, said his project is unique because it was the first major mixed-use project to be approved in downtown Oceanside and because its architecture sets it apart. The asymmetrical walls, painted in blues, whites and “sun-washed” yellow, reflect the waves of the ocean and the shape of sails, Sesar said. He said his project, and the others coming through the pipeline, make him very optimistic about the future of downtown Oceanside. “I think in the next two or three years, you’re really going to see major changes,” he said. “I see tremendous potential in downtown Oceanside if everything comes together.” Oceanside Terraces To the south of Ocean Village, a $35.2 million mixed-use project dubbed Oceanside Terraces is also set to open now Baker said. “Right now, it’s almost like we have a big triangle between the three projects,” she said. Oceanside Terraces includes two levels of underground parking, restaurants and retail on the ground floor, 13 office suites on the second floor and 38 condominiums on the top four floors. The condos will be two and three bedrooms, with list prices that start at $700,000. Of the 38 residential units in the project, seven have been sold, Ron Douglas, managing member of San Diego-based Janez Development, said . Douglas said a little more than half the ground floor has been leased and will house business such as a women’s boutique called Ensemble, a coffeehouse called Maui Wowi, and a full-service restaurant called Harney Sushi. Douglas also said eight of the 13 office spaces are under contract. “People are starting to move in”.he said. Douglas said the three downtown projects will pave the way for a future beachfront Westin Hotel, which is expected to break ground in September, and a five-block condominium-retail behemoth known as the CityMark. “There will be a strong urban environment in the near future,” Douglas said. –

 

 

Oceanside, You come a long Way Baby

Gone are the tattoo parlors, dirty dancing joints and specialty businesses that lurk after the Marines. Oceanside is growing up. It used to be in recent history that Mission and Hill St. was off limits to the Marines as it was just too rowdy. Now it is the opposite and even had a name change from Hill St. to the Coast Highway. There more than seven new large projects going on downtown right now. Look for information coming about the other six. This article deals with the recent activities of a general planning workshop which is the first process for change.
Marga Kellogg of the North County Times reports on the city redesign workshop.
San Diego-based CityMark is planning to build condominiums, 48,000 square feet of commercial businesses and 904 parking spaces on blocks bound by Seagaze Drive, Myers Street, Civic Center Drive and Cleveland Street. The project could also include 124 hotel rooms and would have a restaurant and an al fresco dining area.

The CityMark project is a key component in the city’s downtown redevelopment plan, which includes a luxury Westin hotel and time-share project that would overlook the ocean.

The eight-story hotel, called the Oceanside Beach Resort, would be immediately west of the project and would include shops, a restaurant, and underground parking across the street from the Oceanside Municipal Pier.

Overall, the renderings presented showed redesigned buildings with dramatically terraced facades broken up into a village type of look. Dark sand-colored brick was added and the buildings included more setbacks, higher and lower rooflines, trellises, arcades and inset windows.

“We want to make sure we’re providing a very nice streetscape and pedestrian-oriented environment,” Gustafson said

Buyers are looking forward to Spring realty activity

  Often the sellers take their homes off the market during the winter and wait for the flurry of buyers that come typically in the Spring, summer and fall.

This year is buyers are full of hope that finally they can afford to buy a home. Serious sellers will be price conscious with the lowering of value and will have the home in top shape.

There will be lots of competition for both buyers and sellers. We will see more first time buyers on the market than we have in many years.

Fed threatens to raise the limits for conventional loans

This may be huge in the long run, bringing more buyers to the table as they are now qualified for better loans. In Oceanside, Vista area entry level is about $500,000 so this will greatly affect the market.

But is there money available. This will be the question on everybodys mind as one after another bank goes belly up. Lenders are also getting stricter

Links to others

http:/kellyand laurawordpress.com

The craziest open house I ever had

Well it was probably 40 years ago and I was in my cups so to speak (drunk as an alcoholic) I was very paranoid at that stage. My father is a builder  and my whole family has realty blood in their genes.

It was 9 am and my sister had gone to the models to work. I poured my wine in a coffee cup so it would look like coffee and started nursing a hangover.

I walked down to the model to visit my sister and she said watch the model , here are the brochures, I will be right back and she was gone. So I nursed my disguised coffee/wine and in came a car load of people. 2 couples. being paranoid and thinking they would know it was wine I stepped into the closet to hide. One of the first things they checked was the size of the closet. So when they opened the door I popped out and kept walking all the way home. My sister really questioned me later because we look alike when she came back they thought it was her.

A funny thing happened on the way to show a home

I was showing a beautiful Ocean view Studio to a Cardiologist and his wife when suddenly the door handle fell apart in my hands. Trying to be funny and save the day I said, “and where is a surgeon when you really need one?”

With that, he lept into action and pulled some kind of swiss army surgical bonanza out of his pocket and kneeled down so he could look the door and started performing surgery. I swear on my great Aunt Harry’s grave. He fixed it, right then and there. and then bought the darn place. I sold 6 condos in that summer sight unseen without 1 of them falling out of escrow. What was the trick? Well I had a really cheap bad ebay special digital camera when they first came out. It showed the ocean view about 20 miles farther away than it really was and terribly out of focus. When people came to actually see the place they were so surprised that the waves were so much closer and everything looked so much nicer. Now if I have a pee a boo view I don’t even mention it. I let them discover it. I have learned to downplay the good features rather than point them out.

This whole story is true except I never had an Aunt Harry. Wish I did though

An equally ridiculous story happened to my friend Arn who is with Coldwell Banker in Menlo Park in Northern California…except that my story happens to be true.

Losing by a Nose

One of the many many disclosures in a real estate transaction is the errant golf ball disclosure. In researching how this particular disclosure came to be I cam across an interesting story.

It seems one man put a putting green in his backyard next to the golf course so he could use it  for practice every morning. One morning he woke up and not knowing his little Schipperke dog had got out and retrieved a ball from the golf course, slipped on it and landed face down with his Jimmy Duante type nose in his putting hole. He was stuck. The paramedics who came to get him out discovered he had broken his leg. They put him on a stretcher and got to laughing so hard they dropped him and and he broke his arm and his nose.  By the time he got to the hospital he was ready to sue the golf course but a quick call to his lawyer told him that it wasn’t and errant golf ball but an errant dog who had a nose for getting into trouble. Some days go like that but it is still better to disclose if you question whether you should. Come to think of it , why doesn’t a Schipperke dog come with a disclosure label attached.

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