The Next Venice / Highland Park / Silverlake ? (Los Angeles, San Diego: real estate, 2014, crime)

[Chad Doheny]

I've heard a lot about San Pedro recently. It has all of the ingredients to be the next highland park. (huge art and music scene, affordable rent, "authenticity" etc...) I've also seen that they are redevoloping their waterfront. So I took a 25 min drive down there from DTLA and was blown away at how nice it was. I mean tons of beautiful parks, 2 beaches, minutes to Palos Verdes. I was shocked at how relatively inexpensive the property was. I did notice some early 90's venice vibes in terms of crime but all in all seems like a solid investment. Anyone else thinking about jumping in and buying property in San Pedro?

[JustMike77]

Just follow the studios & tech companies. It worked for Culver City, Venice, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, etc.

[Cloudwalker]

My son sails out of San Pedro at times. Parts of it are really lovely, but the 110 is probably a sizable limiting factor. It’s close to Long Beach, but it’s a brutal commute to most other places. Plus you are right on top of the Port, the biggest source of air pollution in the region, although luckily the offshore westerly is predominant.

A friend of a friend bought a fourplex there about 2 years ago. There’s been a solid increase in value, she’s happy with the investment, but finds the travel time a drag when she has to go to deal with stuff.

I would be looking instead to the western parts of Inglewood. It’s right next to both Playa Vista and Culver City, so good for tech types looking for short commutes. Good access to the 405. The lot sizes are usually decent, with good potential for ADUs. Prices are not that different from San Pedro. Good proximity to the new stadium and Olympic facilities. I would pay close attention to flight paths, use the LAWA real-time map, it includes altitude and sound readings.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Originally Posted by Chad Doheny

I've heard a lot about San Pedro recently. It has all of the ingredients to be the next highland park. (huge art and music scene, affordable rent, "authenticity" etc...) I've also seen that they are redevoloping their waterfront. So I took a 25 min drive down there from DTLA and was blown away at how nice it was. I mean tons of beautiful parks, 2 beaches, minutes to Palos Verdes. I was shocked at how relatively inexpensive the property was. I did notice some early 90's venice vibes in terms of crime but all in all seems like a solid investment. Anyone else thinking about jumping in and buying property in San Pedro?

You know why San Pedro doesn't just float off into the ocean? Because Wilmington sucks. Old joke, been around a long time. Pedro is a long way from trend and employment centers. Most likely next candidate to gentrification is the Ascot Hills / Hillside Village area of Los Angeles. Between downtown and South Pasadena.

[socal88]

Not happening. As noted, it's too far from major job centers and where emerging industries are such as Silicon Beach. I feel like it will have a hard time shedding its working-class port town feel.

It's relatively geographically isolated and as the home of the Port of LA and a major cruise terminal as well as refineries that is next to other marginal areas such as Wilmington, Harbor City, and Lomita, it's just not going to be attractive for most young people and gentrify or transform in the way that Silver Lake / Echo Park / Highland Park / Venice have.

The areas that have really gentrified with an influx of young people and major price appreciation have typically been in core LA fairly close to downtown LA or on the west side close to higher-paying jobs and where there is generally more walkability and solid public transportation.

While it's probably arguably already under gentrification, I'd say the next area that will have a gentrification boom would be West Adams.

[SUPbud]

predicting "gentrification" is truly speculation. Only time will tell which area takes off. I have worked for real estate investors who were desperately trying to "prime the pump".



I remember when Highland Park was "not cool", now in cost-per-sq-ft its unthinkably expensive. People pay $2200 mo / $26400 yr for a 1 bd 1ba 480sq ft rental? reeeeeaaaaly? My 24x24 2 car garage is 576 sq ft.



I did successfully invest in North Park San Diego, and it was a long timeline, but it definitely paid off. And I had NO IDEA it was going to pay off. A neighborhood can have "all the features" on paper (or even none), but the people still got to get some crazy idea in their head "THIS is the cool part of town, and I want to live HERE. It makes so much sense."

[Miss Pip]

Originally Posted by ElDiabloJoe

You know why San Pedro doesn't just float off into the ocean? Because Wilmington sucks. Old joke, been around a long time. Pedro is a long way from trend and employment centers. Most likely next candidate to gentrification is the Ascot Hills / Hillside Village area of Los Angeles. Between downtown and South Pasadena.

Agreed, El Sereno and City Terrace.

[ima30something]

Inglewood, Baldwin Hills, Jefferson Park, West Adams, Windsor Hills, View Park, Hyde Park, Crenshaw.

Around the LAX rail line.

[Ari Rubenstein]

Originally Posted by Chad Doheny

I've heard a lot about San Pedro recently. It has all of the ingredients to be the next highland park. (huge art and music scene, affordable rent, "authenticity" etc...) I've also seen that they are redevoloping their waterfront. So I took a 25 min drive down there from DTLA and was blown away at how nice it was. I mean tons of beautiful parks, 2 beaches, minutes to Palos Verdes. I was shocked at how relatively inexpensive the property was. I did notice some early 90's venice vibes in terms of crime but all in all seems like a solid investment. Anyone else thinking about jumping in and buying property in San Pedro?

Chad seems to be a keen observer. Some of the naysayers in this thread might need to update their research/biases in terms of San Pedro.

I bought a series of properties in 2014 to 2016 when it looked like movement on the waterfront was finally happening. Well I can say that I've seen already seen ~30% increase in value across all of them with no signs of slowing. And the waterfront isn't even built yet. The San Pedro downtown is starting to come to life. New music venues and restaurants are opening every day.

As for employment. Silicon beach creeps farther south everyday now starting to encompass El Segundo, Manhattan, and Redondo beach. There are also renewed talks from SpaceX to locate a substantial facility in San Pedro.

All the residential real estate there has priced out the locals and they are looking to San Pedro now for those needs.

And to put it in perspective - Silverlake, Echo Park, and Venice were all considered unsalvagable mere years before their eventual booms.

[mod]don't post links when you're new[/mod]

[KemBro71]

Wow, 2 "new" members plugging San Pedro!