Dennis Cruzan, founding partner, of Cruzan Monroe, said providing hospitality for tenants is about creating an experience for them. “Downtown offers something different from other markets—not better, just different. Downtown is the least of our worries in dealing with the Millennial transition; the more-important question is how do we deal with the suburbs?”

Komadina asked the panelists if tenants prefer redevelopment to ground-up construction. Cruzan said, “I haven't seen true new development for years. I don't think we know yet. A lot of tenants prefer adaptive re-use, but it's driven more by the developers than the tenants.”

Komadina asked how the people in the room can do a better job of connecting the disparate markets in San Diego's “City of Villages” concept through infrastructure. Cybele Thompson, CCIM, director of real estate assets for the City of San Diego, said the city is doing a lot to provide this connectivity via new HOV lanes on the I-5 and 805 freeways, extensions of the trolley lines, a master-planned traffic-light system that's traffic sensitive and MTS busses expanding their service according to demand.

Pennington said, “We need to get out of our own way. Downtown, parking is a major concern now, but it won't be in the future. The world is changing dramatically,' and real estate needs to think this way. “We're requesting that transit providers change the feeling people have about our transit system. The system is changing,” and people need to feel that.

Komadina asked how we overcome our societal addiction to vehicles, which is different in markets like San Francisco. Pennington said, “The cost of parking will do that. Car technology is transforming so quickly that by 2017 all cars will have technological capabilities. We will be increasingly less dependent on our cars.”

Cruzan said, “I think we have to be realistic in our expectations about this. Our addiction is a function of need, not of an addict. In San Francisco, you have an incredibly dense experience, but it's not like that here. We've been afraid to take that leap. We need to make game-changing things happen—what Cybele was talking about is great, but it's too little too late.”

Ryan said people carpool more and become less addicted to their cars when gas is expensive, “so tax it.” Cruzan suggested, “Why don't we make an extra freeway lane for mass transit?”

Komadina asked with San Diego's clearly defined districts, what opportunities are we missing? Ryan said, “Why don't we have residential intermixed with commercial to prevent sprawl?” Cruzan said, “We want to use our real estate differently now, but our zoning won't allow it.”

Pennington said having community-outreach meeting where everyone writes down their two best ideas is not enough to grasp what the people need and want. “You have to immerse yourself in these environments to understand what the people want. And you must allow for infrastructure change in order to make these developments work.”

Cruzan argued that despite the urbanism trend, not everyone wants to or will live in Downtown San Diego—it's not realistic. “A lot of people will still live in the suburbs, but we want that urban feeling in the suburbs that mixed-use brings. Why go through a big master plan?”

Thompson pointed out that now is the ideal time to do community outreach because many community plans in San Diego are currently undergoing updates. “People are reaching out to planning groups and making their comments known. A lot of plans haven't been updated in 20 to 30 years.”

Komadina said catalytic projects like the redevelopment of Qualcomm Stadium and the San Diego Sports Arena propel us to the next level. He asked Thompson how the City of San Diego views its role in that process, and Thompson answered, “These sites are far underutilized. Money was made on the redevelopment of Petco Park—if we can do that, then that's what we need to do at these sites.”

Komadina asked Thompson what's happening with the Chargers, and she said, “We're working hard to keep them here.”

During the question-and-answer session, an attendee asked why we're not a motorbike society like in Europe. Pennington said, “It's happening, but the perception is that it's not. It's being planned by Bike San Diego, so keep an eye out for it.” Cruzan pointed out that safety is an issue—we need safe bike lanes that aren't directly open to auto lanes.

Another attendee asked how the dissolution of California's redevelopment agencies has affected development in San Diego, and Pennington admitted, “It sucks. But people are getting creative.”

Komadina wrapped up by asking the panelists for their future predictions for their respective markets. Irwin said the Mexican border will open up and present a possible opportunity for a Chargers Stadium. Pennington said the East Village of Downtown will come to be known as one of (if not the) most important education hubs in San Diego. Cruzan said we won't see much new office development, and Thompson said the Pure Water program will be big and by the end of the year the City will make a decision on the Qualcomm Stadium site that will “change the face of Mission Valley.”