European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 10, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine downtown o revitalized use have a new City being built Here Vujica f s i1 v s v s the year old intercontinental hotel Tower stands on the waterfront in downtown san new York times photo by Robert Lindsey new York times in the Center of san at the southwestern tip of the United powerful forces of change Are at after decades of deterioration and new buildings Are going up there is a sense of vitality and in the biggest change of Middle class san deegans Are moving downtown this was Long the quintessential Navy a City with a benign climate energized by the ebb and flow of Gray warships and the appetites of sailors Home on leave after months at after san Diego became one of the nations fastest growing cities in the 1960s and few newcomers came the cites growth occurred near freeways and shopping centers far from the Center of san strip porno Tattoo bars and other establishments that Cater to of duty sailors of the Pacific Fleet Are still part of san Diego downtown and City officials say this will probably continue for several years but in a scene that seems to change they Are increasingly giving Way to High Rise office to apartment and condominium All within sight of san Diego City of finals say they Are not sure what Force ignited the new interest in downtown san some say they sense a disaffection with the Surbur ban life among some san especially younger professionals who work others Trace the turnabout to four years when a trolley line linked the downtown with the cites Southern suburbs and the mexican 16 Miles to the in August one of the most ambitious retail structures Ever built in a single stroke in an american City is scheduled to opening the heart of san occupying 6vi the architecturally stunning Horton Plaza will contain four Large department 160 smaller two legitimate seven motion picture spacious piazzas and other the 75yearold Grant an Urban dowager seemingly gripped by terminal decay until re is being restored and is scheduled to reopen in december As a luxury at least a dozen other Vintage downtown from warehouses to movie Are undergoing Sim Ilar restoration in the san Diego symphony orchestra will move into the baroque Fox movie theater after a million you really feel a Force said Fred who purchased the Panama hotel three years ago and converted it into an office like some of his Norton walks to work from one of the new downtown housing every he you see More and More people who want to live and work in an Eastern City like new York or there is Little unusual about walking to but in automobile oriented the idea has a touch of especially in san where Popula Tion growth has been pushing outward from its Core almost since the Day a group of franciscan friars arrived in 1769 and founded a roman Catholic religious Mission that became the nucleus of the modern Only a few Hundred new Many of them Young have moved into downtown san Diego so but officials say the number increases each four major residential complexes have been built in the heart of the City in the last three most units Are priced in the Range of to although at the nearly completed 27story Meridian the Price will Range from to san Diego spurt of downtown growth has not come without condominium at least until have been slower than some business executives say they Are concerned that the marketplace is not absorbing new office and retail space fast the owners of the Mil lion intercontinental hotel Tower on san Diego Harbor say they have lost millions on the project so causing a delay in the construction of a second Tower at the there Are social As Well As economic some social workers say the accelerating rate of downtown while a Boon for property is jeopardizing the shelter of about poor people who live in downtown residential Over the last three hundreds of hotel rooms have been lost to officials and Many More Are Likely to disappear As the upgrading continues and land beneath the hotels becomes More valuable for apartment buildings or its hard to find a room for less than a said Joan an official of the City hous ing in afraid More people Are going to be not Only pensioners who in the past filled Many of the hotels but also a More recent wave of younger people who have found the hotels the Only shelter they can despite these the Overall mood regarding the redevelopment is upbeat in san with More than is californian second largest after los san Diego officials say hundreds of millions of Dol Lars in additional construction projects have been approved for the including a million Conven Tion Center scheduled to open in 1987 near the two Public agencies Are responsible for most of the redevelopment the san Diego unified port which is overseeing development along the and the Centre City development a local redevelopment the single most important element in the redevelopment is Horton the Centre City development corporation paid almost million to acquire the and then sold the property to Ernest one of the nations largest shopping Center for million As an incentive to begin the Hahn company says it is spending million to build a three tier Complex whose architectural style is dominated by the Spanish influences of buildings erected in the cites Balboa Park for a 1915 International exposition but also includes the look of two buildings that occupied the site before the Complex was noting that there was a Large area of commercial and Industrial buildings Between the new shopping Complex and the Harbor that in time would be turned into a new residential and commercial Sonny an executive of Ernest Hahn said of the projects already under construction this is just the beginning we have a new City being built june 1985 the stars and stripes Paige 13