SAN DIEGO—I.D.E.A. District aims to bring a missing piece to the Downtown San Diego fabric: high-paying jobs that will dominate the 21st Century, partner David Malmuth tells GlobeSt.com exclusively. We spoke with Malmuth about the initiative, its goals and how it is transforming Downtown into a market that will be competitive with other livable cities in the country.
GlobeSt.com: What is the purpose of I.D.E.A. District?
Malmuth: It's an initiative that was started about 4.5 years ago by my partner Pete Garcia and me. We noticed that there was a missing piece to the Downtown San Diego fabric, which was the clean, high-paying jobs that will be dominating the 21st Century. There has been no net increase in the amount of office space occupied downtown in 15 years, at the same time we have developed 15,000 housing units; and cities that are going to win understand that developing their urban spaces with numerous amenities is their most powerful economic development strategy. Young, talented workers are going to drive the economy, and we needed a competitive offering to attract them.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
