Mini-dorms

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by kettlepot

Can you "Reverse-Engineer" a homeowners association? That would involve adding covenants onto deeds that are covenant free. I think that would require 100% agreement from the property owners given that it's coming after the fact. But I'm no expert on real estate law.

In La Jolla and Del Mar they have assessment districts where neighborhoods voluntarily pay into their own "HOA"... in some blocks you have 100% partcipation.

[UberLando]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Centrepoint was approved as condos originally, Doug Wilson has since sold the project to JPI. JPI is building the same project as was approved but as market-rate rentals instead of condos. The building is 3-story with ground-floor retail frontage on El Cajon Boulevard and a mix of studio / 1BR / townhomes. It has interior parking and private garages. This is not student housing per se but given our proximity to SDSU it can be expected that it will be popular with students.

I understand that the market is not good right now and I would rather have a building that's going to be used than that eyesore of a lot there, but there's one quote from the city minutes that concerns me:

"JPIMI has raised the possibility of developing rental housing for college students on the site. "

Take a look at JPI's website, I guess I'm not all that confident that they'll stick within the plan without making changes to the structure to accomodate student housing. If it remains the way it is, but with student housing that's fine. If it turns into a sterile structure, then I would think we should be a little concerned. I'm not debating that it shouldn't be student housing, but that it shouldn't turn into a building that looks like a dorm.

[NYSD1995]

Union Trib has picked up the story:

San Diego Metro News | SignOnSanDiego.com -- Proposed housing worries neighbors

"Many Rolando residents are dismayed that a former shopping center could be replaced by apartment rentals for college students."

[kettlepot]

I read the article you linked to and all of the comments by the posters.

I have to say that the proposed development IS a better solution to student housing than mini-dorms. And the location right on El Cajon Boulevard is a better location than having the students living within the neighborhood in single family houses that have been reconstructed into 9 bedroom dormitories.

Still, I am troubled that the complex will no longer have a mix of residents and now will be entirely student occupied. And no one is going to walk to SDSU from that location, though it would be possible to bicycle or skate to school. And as one poster on the Signon site said, it will be better than the seedy motels and other run-down buildings on ECB that are further to the west. Frankly, SDSU students would make for better neighbors than the denizens of those motels. Count your blessings on that front.

[lerpat]

Actually, JPI is still doing their due diligence. Escrow on that sale is not scheduled to close until October, and there is no guarantee it will close. JPI has not made any formal proposal for what they plan to do, but the talk is a student-only development, rented by the bed (which they have said is the way they market to younger students). (You can see what they do at their website, JPI.com.) It would bring up to 1200 students into Rolando. I'm one of the people who has been circulating petitions against student housing at that site. I live about four blocks away, and believe it would spell disaster for our neighborhood in the form of noise, trash, traffic, overuse of our little park, and ultimately, property values.

Many residents plan to appear at the EACPAC meeting this Tuesday evening, and we will be delivering our signatures (500+) and a cover letter then.