San Diego Apartment Project Switches to Condos

The original plans for Bosa’s high-rise near Symphony Towers called for its 40 stories to be filled with about 400 apartment units. As they prepare to start construction, the developer has switched to a new plan.

The building that will rise on the edge of the East Village will deliver a better return on investment if it’s filled with condos, Bosa has decided, because the neighborhood is saturated with an influx of new apartment inventory as projects get delivered.

British Columbia-based Bosa Development has submitted revised plans to change the 40-story apartment building into a 389-unit condominium tower, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Bemi Jauhal, a Bosa VP, told the newspaper that the switch was made because the company believes condominiums would deliver a better ROI than apartments, offering a better opportunity.

“There is a lack of condo supply,” she said, referring to the east side of downtown San Diego.

Work at the site, near the Symphony Towers building on B Street, began in 2022 but has been paused for several months. The planned development is on the edge of East Village in an area made up mainly of office buildings and apartments. There is only one condo building in the area.

According to Brian Schoenfisch, deputy director of the city’s Urban Division, the project will need additional permits for the build-out of the structure for condos. Bosa did not provide an estimated date for the tower’s completion.

According to the Union-Tribune report, revisions to residential projects in San Diego usually have involved switching condos to apartments. In 2010, the Vantage Pointe building, also on B Street on proximity to Bosa’s site, was switched to apartments from condos after the developer failed to sell enough units during the Great Recession, the report said.

East Village has been the epicenter of downtown apartment deliveries for nearly a decade, with numerous complexes fiercely competing with offers of move-in deals.

In terms of supply, the rental market is nearing saturation, with about 1,600 apartment units expected to deliver in 2024. There already are 7,000 apartments in East Village, which has the highest vacancy rate, at 8.8%, in San Diego County, according to CoStar data.

This year’s deliveries include 800 Broadway, with 384 units, and The Wyatt on 15th Street, with 368 units. Most of the condos are on the west side of the city.

Bosa’s new condo tower will be bounded by B Street, Eighth Avenue, C Street and Ninth Avenue. Last year, the city announced it will pay Bosa $23M to build North Central Square Park on a portion of the site.

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