John Portman & Associates announces next urban quarter in San Diego
Makers Quarter will create a multi-block neighborhood downtown with art, culture, open space and vibrancy
Comprised of several blocks, spanning 14th Street to 17th Street, Broadway Avenue to G Street, Makers Quarter, a new neighborhood in the Upper East Village of San Diego, next to San Diego City College and Golden Hill, seeks to provide connectivity between each of these desirable areas while creating a new holistically designed live/work/play/learn community for eastern downtown. Respectful of the history of the area, Makers Quarter will incorporate historic elements and architecture into the design and function of the neighborhood with a strong focus on sustainability.
The transformation will be gradual, recognizing that a massive undertaking of such a large-scale mission to create a lasting and meaningful community requires critical effort and will not be rushed. The goal is to begin laying the fabric of a neighborhood by taking the warehouse district and bringing it to life. First steps include a residential mixed-use block which the team envisions will include a market and community uses. Following will be a combination of creative offices, a mixture of small, local and mid-sized retail shops as well as residential elements and restaurants. Through community events and gathering areas, such as a community garden and art wall created by the nonprofit Humane Smarts, the foundations of Makers Quarter will be powerful and shape the vision of the community. The transformation will focus on cultural events and an enlivened atmosphere.
Principal Gordon Beckman sums up the firm’s enthusiasm for the project: “The Upper East Village is a unique district within San Diego. This project presents an incredible opportunity to develop a new neighborhood here in a holistic way. Our design seeks to provide linkages, to connect, to be authentic, walkable, and sustainable.”
In addition to architects from John Portman & Associates, who are providing planning and design vision for the project, team members include the development team LPP, made up of developers Lankford & Associates, a privately held company rooted in San Diego since 1984, and Portman Holdings, with experience in large urban developments, as well as Hensel Phelps, who characterize their role as going beyond building projects to building lasting relationships. The consulting team includes SLP Urban Planning (Public Realm), Spurlock and Poirier (Landscape), BRC Imagination Arts (Cultural Placemaking), Thomas Consultants (Retail Consulting), ARUP (Sustainability), Fehr & Peers (Traffic), Skyport Studio (Placemaking), Kettier Leweck Engineering (Civil),
Bringing 60 years of experience and building upon the successful transformations of urban centers from Atlanta to San Francisco and Shanghai, John Portman & Associates is proud to be part of the team working together to ensure that Makers Quarter will be an economic generator, where jobs, people and commercial activities along with the arts, culture and events thrive together in a self-sustaining community, embracing – and implementing – the principles of the IDEA District, a powerful conceptual framework for the Upper East Village.