SAN DIEGO—Office owners need to get creative with existing space Downtown and work on more-innovative uses of interior space within towers, Downtown San Diego Partnership's president and CEO Kris Michell tells GlobeSt.com. The firm has released the results of its first-ever demographic study on the Downtown region, which shows that the submarket is following the trends of the rest of the nation's great cities: the urban movement is hot here, Millennials are attracted to the downtown lifestyle and job growth there is far outpacing the rest of the county. We spoke exclusively with Michell, who recently presented the results of the study as part of Rethink Downtown: Behind San Diego's Skyline lecture series, about the study and how she interprets the data.

GlobeSt.com: What was the impetus for the demographic study your organization recently completed study?

Michell: I saw this statistic from the US Census Bureau about the national trend of urban growth outpacing suburban growth, and I wondered what we currently have in Downtown San Diego and where the trends are taking us. I contacted UCSD's Dr. Mary Walshok to do this study. I was surprised at some of the findings. Per-capita salaries averaged $72,000 in Downtown, while the rest of the region averaged $52,000. Trends like that speak to more disposable income and a higher-educated population. More than 51% of Downtown residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while the figure is 30% for the rest of the region. What you're seeing is a highly educated population living in Downtown, a more affluent population that really likes the lifestyle.

Leigh Gallagher, the assistant managing editor of Fortune magazine, wrote a book called “The End of the Suburbs” that discussed where the American Dream is heading. She talked a lot about things like how young people are delaying getting their driver's licenses and how that's changed from when we were kids. Our life depended upon us getting a car so we could go see our friends, but today's teens grew up in the back seat of a car and they're tired of it. They want to get out of the car. For us, we would go outside and play, but today, it's “Let me take you to karate or ballet.” They're constantly moving, and they want to get out and experience things themselves. Their freedom is walking in Downtown neighborhoods, whereas our freedom was a car. Millennials are the first generation of digital natives—they were born this way. They don't need a car to communicate with their friends because they have social media.

Also, Millennials are waiting longer to get married and buy a house. It will be interesting to see if there will be another residential boom coming up in urban centers—that's where they want to be. Also, they saw that the whole 2008 thing didn't work out, and they believe that owning things isn't as important as doing things. They wonder, “How am I going to be relevant in the world?”

By 2020, 50% of the workforce countywide will be in the Millennial category. That's why I wanted this study. Companies are going where the talent is, not vice versa—it's become inverted, different. We want to work to attract the talent that keeps the jobs in the urban core. We think about creative office, which impacts the type of buildings we need to build: highly amenitized buildings both in residential and office.

GlobeSt.com: What do you find most interesting about the study?

Michell: I think it illustrates that Downtown is a regional place. What I mean by that is the flock to urban centers that's happening nationally is also happening here in Downtown San Diego. The population of that area is largely in the Millennial category. We're seeing folks really changing the lifestyle they want to live, and it's all driven by Millennials. Our job-growth rate in Downtown will be more than 50%, while the rest of the county's will be 10%. This is on trend with the national trend.

GlobeSt.com: Based on the study results, where do you feel the greatest opportunities lie for the real estate community Downtown?

Michell: I think it's everywhere, but definitely in the East Village with Makers Quarter and I.D.E.A. District. In other areas of Downtown, some buildings can be turned into creative space. The space inside can be different, like the Irvine Co. product at 225 Broadway, the AT&T building, where one floor is an incubator floor, then you move up to the accelerator floor and you graduate based on your company. We need creative building owners who say, “How do we look at desk sharing?” The old models are being disrupted by new, creative ways of housing our workers. Underground Elephant took new space in the East Village around multifamily space, and we're seeing mixed use instead of all office or all residential in one area. Civic San Diego is looking at our zoning to determine if it's too restrictive. We want activation 24/7, and for that we can't have only one type of space in an area.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the study?

Michell: The same things we all knew were validated by the study: walking, complete streets, high density. It makes it better for communities when we activate it—the more people out on the streets the better. Downtown could use more great transportation. We are already using the circulator—electric vehicles—we have five already. People want different modes of transportation and don't really want to drive a car. We're heading in the right direction, putting a fine point on the residents down there.