If you like the modernist styles seen in the Mad Men series, you will want to visit a new listing of mine. Looks like it was pulled straight out of a well-preserved vault from the 1950’s. Situated on a 2-acre hilltop parcel is a private getaway home that has never been on the market.  The estate consists of 7,500 sq. ft. of living space surrounded by  park-like grounds. This property is an authentic & intact Mid Century ranch home with 5,500 sq.ft. with 6 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms plus a 2,000 sq.ft. guest house with a full kitchen and 1.5 bathrooms.  Built in 1950 upon a solid bed of granite which required 2 months of blasting before any construction began is a modernist home inspired by the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. Features include large, undivided picture windows, the use of stone both inside and on the exterior, and  a blend of linear and organic movement from space to space.  The previous owner (1920’s – 1949) was a world-travelled botanist who successfully cultivated many of his exotic species collected from his journeys. The botanist’s specimen trees remain today, including South African Cape Chestnuts, pepper, carob, maple, pecan, mulberry, avocado, & quince trees, as well as cedars and scrub oaks, limes and jacarandas. Views from the property include the ocean, Coronado, San Diego Bay, Mt. Helix and Cowles Mountain. The La Mesa Highlands neighborhood is the hill due west of Mt. Helix, and offers walking access into La Mesa Village. The estate is listed at $2,350,000.

There is no other neighborhood in San Diego County that offers the diversity of venues and level of activities as downtown San Diego. The San Diego Padres are in full swing for 2012, at least they are in in spirit, ComicCon will unleash hordes in a couple months, the number of restaurant choices is unmatched, and a sense of San Diego’s past history is ever present in the Gaslamp Quarter. The new library (pictured below) designed by architect Rob Quigley, is literally re-shaping the East Village skyline, and is scheduled for completion in about a year. The inventory for buyers is thin, the competition for renters is strong, and prices in both categories, for sale and for lease, are increasing. What is it about downtown that attracts so many people? Along with Balboa Park, the area is the central unifying market for every resident, all 3 million of us. As we continue to grow, downtown will surely be ready to handle the expansion of people and buildings.

Opening day at Petco Park for the San Diego Padres triggers many events in motion. Even with a loss yesterday against the Dodgers, the mood remains the same: Upbeat, Hopeful, Competitive, Youthful.  It is just now Spring, but with major league baseball back in town, it feels like summer already.   In 2004, when Petco first opened, downtown San Diego was experiencing a renaissance in the real estate market as thousands of brand new condos were being delivered. You had the feeling  that living downtown was the future, where everything about you was fun and new and it was all walkable and innovative.  Opening day 2012 signals a different kind of start than 2004, this time around it’s more cautious but upbeat still. Our real estate has changed – fewer units for sale & not a single new residential building under construction – it is likely this downtown market will be a seller’s market again, sooner than we think. Record low interest rates combined with the strong spring/summer sales will impact new inventory as it comes to market. If you are going to a Padres game this season, give me a call and I’ll set up a condo tour.

The sound of hammers and saws piercing the daytime hours is the making of something positive in the air. Builders and contractors have been idle or cut back drastically the past many years as the “great recession” rolled across the United States. “There were a substantial number of projects deferred in 2008 and 2009 but those cases are much less so today, looking at 2010, 2011 and now in 2012,” states Robert Murray, vice president of economic affairs at McGraw Hill Construction, a construction data firm. The peak of new construction in the U.S. was 2006, with a total of $689.3 billion. In 2011, new construction totaled $421.4 billion.  Forbes.com took the McGraw Hill data and dug deeper: which areas spent the most money on new construction in 2011, inclusive of homes, condominiums, apartment buildings, office, retail, warehouses, health care buildings, educational buildings, manufacturing plants and research facilities. Listed below are the top 6 metro areas. Surely this activity provides hope that the upswing is underway, and the recession that took so many victims is behind us.

1) NYC  $17.2 billion

2) Dallas  $9.5 billion

3) Houston  $8.8 billion

4) Washington, D.C.  $8.1 billion

5) Chicago  $6 billion

6) Boston  $5.9 billion

San Diego is in the top 10 of U.S. metro areas that have a rising commercial real estate market. A report from Jones Lang LaSalle, a professional and financial services firm, calls for a broader recovery in these top 10 markets’ residential neighborhoods. San Diego’s economic strengths are in the high-tech and defense industries, with solid support in education, health care and tourism: all of which provide sustained demand for increases in local commercial space.  The LaSalle report says this strength in commercial is paving the way for recovery in the residential markets:  “Continued gains in the office and employment sectors….and “increased disposable income will drive consumption and thus demand, resulting in lower home vacancy and foreclosure rates, as well as higher sales volumes and appreciating prices.”  The correlation appears logical.