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Gaslamp CitySquare (City Square) scores 3.5 star rating from

By: Mark Mills, Fri Dec 9th, 2005 05:38:05 PM

Champion Developments first residential project, Gaslamp CitySquare (City Square), was recently rated three and a half stars from the residents living there. While the building sold out quickly in the hot San Diego condo market a year ago, residents and the city government were a little disappointed when seeing the final product.

Residents at Gaslamp Citysquare (Gaslamp City Square) do have a lot to brag about including their location (one of two condo buildings in the Gaslamp), common patio area with its pool and hot tub and also the low HOA fees. Residents also appreciate the great stores and restaurants in the ground floor retail spaces.

Because this was the developers' (Champion Development) first attempt at a residential project they made some mistakes with regard to the design of the buildings exterior and lobby. For the buildings exterior façade they paid dearly, almost a million dollars to put the right look on the outside, with pressure from the City. One resident described the lobby as looking like a "sterile Soviet era hotel". They also did not understand they types and amount of equipment needed to adequately supply a residential fitness center. The developer after receiving several complaints from residents about the fitness center is going to add more equipment. Look for a revised comment on this in early 2006. One resident said she did not like the parking situation. Here there are 3 levels of parking, the first level is public parking operated by ACE and cost from $10 - $20/day. The lower two levels are for residents. The "HOA effectiveness" rating is low because three of the five seats on the Board are held by people employed by the developer the other two are realtors who do not live in the building. Therefore one could surmise that the Board and residents have two different objectives. The entire Board is made up of non-residents a very bizarre situation that will improve over time.

Champion Development has certainly learned its lessons getting its feet wet in the residential market. Two other projects they have under way are being played "safely" by not building any common areas or putting their own façade on the buildings outside. They believe its less risky to redevelop an existing structure than to try and build an architecturally satisfying building on their own.

Resident's information and opinions were gathered from surveys provided by Mark Mills, RE/MAX Realtor who regularly surveys the downtown residents in order to share insightful information with his clients looking to purchase condos in downtown San Diego. Survey results for other buildings can be found at http://www.LiveAtTheTop.com.

About the author: RE/MAX Realtor focused on the downtown San Diego condo market. Visit him at hppp://www.LiveAtTheTop.com

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