Morris Newman
Low-Cost Housing Goes Affordably Green in Chula Vista
Submitted by jstephens on 8 March 2010 - 5:48amHey you, Mr./Ms. Conventional Apartment Developer! Yes, you. Don’t attempt to ignore me by rolling up your construction–loan documents and sticking them in your ears.
Death Knell for Suburbs? Or a Cracked Bell Tolling from Academia?
Submitted by admin on 1 March 2010 - 8:56pmFirst it was the climate crisis. Then it was the economy. Now the experts are sounding the alarm over... the future of the American suburbs? This time, you pointy-heads, you’ve gone too far! You can’t have my tranquil, SUV-lined streets! I’m telling Rush Limbaugh and Sen. Inhofe about this.
Ready-Made Downtown Planned For Otay Ranch
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 9 February 2010 - 1:47pmThis is a message to all California cities: Take your hats off to Chula Vista. This city of 210,000 people between San Diego and the Mexican border has adopted a plan for an all-new downtown in the Otay Ranch district that makes most other downtown plans seem tentative and incomplete. Perhaps another California community has the political will to approve something equally forward-looking; for the time being, the Otay Ranch Eastern Urban Center is among the plans that are raising the proverbial bar in city planning.
Dispensaries In L.A.: Choose Your Drug
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 20 January 2010 - 6:36pmThe Los Angeles City Council voted today to limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city (described by one councilmember as the “the capital of medical marijuana”) to a total of 70 storefront locations. With an estimated 900 dispensaries currently operating within city limits, there are currently more medical marijuana outlets in L.A. than Starbucks. That is a sobering figure. How on earth did we end up with this many Starbucks?
Let's Put Real Estate Development Into Perspective
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 18 January 2010 - 6:18pmLike nearly everybody, I awoke last Wednesday morning to ghastly images and video of the Haitian earthquake. Anybody who lives along the California coast – and that’s about 80% of the state population – is likely to have respond to this event with a combination of pity, fear, sadness and possibly a bit of what psychologists call “the guilt of the survivor.”
Forecasters Predict Blizzard Of Commercial Real Estate Defaults
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 11 January 2010 - 3:22pmThe weather report for commercial real estate is bad, according to The New York Times, which reports rapid falls in value in local office buildings. In California, the weatherman is predicting flurries of half-empty office buildings and shopping malls to fall on Golden State cities during the next two years.
Fish Have Last Word At Wetlands
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 11 January 2010 - 1:53pmCan 12 million fish be wrong? Virtually no finned critters were to be found in the San Dieguito Lagoon as recently as 2007, when bulldozers began to push tons of earth to create berms along the banks of the coastal waterway. Seven months later, in January 2008, marine biologists were astonished to find millions of baby fish – far in excess of their expectations – squiggling in the newly irrigated lagoon in San Diego County.
Apple Valley Trades General Plan For Stadium
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 10 December 2009 - 11:57amThe Town of Apple Valley wants to build a minor league baseball stadium. That’s not unusual in California, where stadium building seems only a slice less popular than tailgate parties with free-flowing beer. What is unusual, however, is the way that the town plans to pay– or rather, not pay – for this $20 million to $25 million project.
NBC Universal's Growth Plans: A Monologue
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 9 November 2009 - 3:43pmNBC Universal has unveiled a master plan for buildout of its 391-acre property in the hills between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. Morris Newman offers his analysis by way of a dramatic monologue.
SF's Empty Lots: Something From Nothing
Submitted by Paul Shigley on 9 October 2009 - 11:20amPlanners, architects and developers think they make stuff that lasts forever, or at least for a very long time. For them, empty lots are merely temporary conditions. However, empty lots can be interesting and even useful, especially during economic down times. In San Francisco, a number of architects and landscape designers have created temporary uses for cleared construction sites or abandoned construction pits.
