How Big Main Street

So, we've seen alternative visions of what the One Paseo, San Diego project will be: one is the developer's version, where all the views portray low, human-scale buildings; and the other is the opponent's www.WhatPriceMainStreet.com version, where the development appears to be larger and more walled-in. While a few people are in favor of the minimum, all-office and parking lot version, most people in the community seem to want something more: a community plaza, some retail, some residential, etc. See the One Paseo section for more posts on this subject and the One Paseo image.

But how much is enough, and what is too much? Read the full article for more...

Perhaps we need to look at what 4 or 5 stories of residential on top of retail looks like. It seems that a company called Risha Engineering has a 210 residential unit, 200,000 sq. ft. of retail mixed-use development called Atlantic Times Square that has some similarities to the proposed One Paseo. Sure, it's smaller, but there are 5 stories over retail and lots of underground parking. Here's a picture:

I don't know if that's representative of the proposal, but it is 5 stories of residential over a retail floor. If you want a real shock, go to the web site for the project and look at the construction pictures (there are numbers 1 to 6 on the right)...

Here's a 4 story over retail image in Virginia:

A lot of the apartment buildings in the UTC area seem to be 4 stories of residential (no retail below), and they always look pretty dense to me. The above images and the proposed One Paseo development are taller. In my mind, I had envisioned a couple of stories of residential (perhaps 2 in parts and 3 in others) over retail.

Note that Pell Place, near the Carmel Valley Recreation Center, seems to be 3 (and 4) stories over parking garage.

What do you think?