Wood Partners Eyes Luxury Apartments in Little Italy

Two big developers are taking dives into Downtown San Diego's development fray, including a luxury apartment builder and a new Marriott branded hotel.

Atlanta-based Wood Partners is looking to develop a 110-unit luxury apartment project at 1919 Pacific Hwy in Little Italy, just between Cedar and Grape streets. The eight-story proposed project will entail the razing of a 45-year-old hotel there to make way for the project. In an application filed with CivicSD, 1919 Pacific will include studio to two-bedroom units of up to 1,500 SF atop a 154-space parking deck with a second-level pool deck. It's slated for a vote in January following design reviews.

Then Scottsdale-based The Briad Group returns to CivicSD with plans to push forward on a new AC Hotel by Marriott in the Gaslamp Quarter—this time with more guest rooms and sans a nightclub. In December, Briad was remanded back to a CivicSD committee due to design concerns for what was then a 119-room hotel with a basement level nightclub and a rooftop pool with a lounge sandwiched between Fifth and Sixth avenues and between F and G streets. Now, Briad has removed the rooftop lounge and the nightclub, while upping the number of rooms to 147 keys. The project, if approved, will ultimately raze a TGI Fridays and a McFadden's restaurants there now. Noting that the project will create 74 permanent jobs in the Gaslamp Quarter, the design review notes in its report that the AC Hotel “is a blend of contemporary styles while respecting the Gaslamp Quarter development regulations.”