Kilroy Realty has proposed a super-dense, urban development called One Paseo in our home, the community of Carmel Valley, San Diego. Placed in an area that includes mostly 1 to 2 story buildings, this massive development (see a larger image of One Paseo in Carmel Valley, San Diego) includes 8 and 10 story commercial towers; 4 to 6 story residential blocks; a 10 story residential tower; as much retail as the Del Mar Highlands Town Center; a hotel; a large cinema; and a massive, multi-story parking structure. The developer, Kilroy Realty, continually presents this as a human scale, neighborhood village (see a Kilroy Marketing Rendering of One Paseo), but the reality is far more urban, more suitable for a downtown locale (see the One Paseo model from a Kilroy Investor's Presentation). PS: Yes, I know that this view is slightly out-of-date, but Kilroy won't release anything new. If you want, you can download and read the Kilroy Investor's Presentation Jan 2011 yourself. See the One Paseo section for more posts on this subject.
A letter about the fake grassroots support for One Paseo, read it on the Carmel Valley News website. It seems like the PR Firms are continuing to churn out letters and reports of community support for One Paseo, even though many of the sources seems suspicious. The Carmel Valley Main Street website has more.
While One Paseo may not be a 40 story building, the development has the floor space to be one. If you count all the parking, the One Paseo project has over 3.6 Million square feet of developed space. This is enough to build a structure the size of two football fields that is 40 stories high! So, if we built a 40 story building with a 2 acre footprint, we could then have 20 acres of parkland in Carmel Valley. I'm being totally sarcastic here, but which would you rather have? A tall building with a large park, or the One Paseo solution, where lower buildings reduce the open space to almost zero? Would it help if it was a 4 acre building that was 20 stories high?
This is a street in Barcelona that, while more scenic than One Paseo will ever be, gives a comparison as to how tall the buildings might be on Main Street in Carmel Valley. Actually, many of the One Paseo buildings will be one floor taller. I can imagine something like this downtown, but it really doesn't look like a suburban village street to me.
It's time for us to stand up and tell Kilroy that their vision of One Paseo is NOT what we want for Carmel Valley. We're willing to agree to a mixed-use project that is appropriate to the community, but not to the monsterous Urban Mall that they've proposed. We don't want a Los Angeles Infill Project. San Diego is a City of Villages, and we want our Village!
The Atlantic Times Square development in LA (500 N. Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA) is a very urban, very dense development: 600,000 sq ft of space on 7 acres of land (see the Risha Engineering Page and click on the Image above for a larger view). It includes a 14 screen theater, 200,000 sq ft of retail and 210 condos. View the thing in Google Maps. One Paseo will be like 3 of these developments next to each other -- 1,800,000 sq ft of buildings on 22 acres. One Paseo is 600 condos/apartments, 270,000 sq ft retail, a hotel and 2 large office towers.
When Kilroy talks about Main Street in the One Paseo development being 5 stories of apartments over retail, this is what they mean. Is this what we want in Carmel Valley? It doesn't look very much like a village to me! Check out the "A Better One Paseo" posting to see the difference.
I was looking at the ShowYourLoveSD.com site, where they discuss alternate development in different areas of San Diego. They have some greate videos like This One of University Heights. So, why can't Kilroy provide something like this for One Paseo?
We've spent so much time talking about how the current One Paseo project is bad, that we've forgotten that a scaled-down, mixed use development at this site could be great! It's time that we start telling our side of the story, how Carmel Valley residents aren't against development, we just want something better. For example, look at the above picture. Here's a human-scale Main Street where I could imagine spending time. It's the kind of relaxing, small-town village that we'd all love to visit. If you compare this picture to the massive, 6-story retail and residential block that Kilroy is proposing, you'll see that there are alternatives that still provide mixed use, but at a lower development intensity. So, how about it, Kilroy? San Diego is the "City of Villages", so, where's our village? See the One Paseo section for more posts on this subject, and the One Paseo overview image.
The One Paseo website shows the above image as an example of how their proposal will blend with the character of our neighborhood in Carmel Valley, after all, they've put residential near other residential, commercial near commercial, and retail near retail. What could be better?!! The problem is, that they don't really show or compare adjacent heights. For example,
The existing residential on Del Mar Heights Road is 1 to 2 story condos (East Bluff). One Paseo calls for multiple 4 and 5 story residential blocks across the street.
The existing offices at the corner of High Bluff are 1 and 2 story. One Paseo places a 10 story residential tower at this corner, along with a 4 story residential block.
The Del Mar Highlands Town Center is 1 and 2 story retail, but One Paseo proposes an 8 story office tower, a 10 story office tower, and another 4 to 5 story residential block across the street!
How on earth is this "Blending with the Character of the Neighborhood"?!! Can you think of anywhere in San Diego where this might fit, other than possibly UTC or Downtown? See the One Paseo section for more posts on this subject, and the One Paseo overview image.
A letter about the 
While One Paseo may not be a 40 story building, the development has the floor space to be one. If you count all the parking, the One Paseo project has over 3.6 Million square feet of developed space. This is enough to build a structure the size of two football fields that is 40 stories high! So, if we built a 40 story building with a 2 acre footprint, we could then have 20 acres of parkland in Carmel Valley. I'm being totally sarcastic here, but which would you rather have? A tall building with a large park, or the One Paseo solution, where lower buildings reduce the open space to almost zero? Would it help if it was a 4 acre building that was 20 stories high?
This is a street in Barcelona that, while more scenic than One Paseo will ever be, gives a comparison as to how tall the buildings might be on Main Street in Carmel Valley. Actually, many of the One Paseo buildings will be one floor taller. I can imagine something like this downtown, but it really doesn't look like a suburban village street to me.
It's time for us to stand up and tell Kilroy that their vision of 
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