Planning Commission to Hold Hearing on Conversion of 21 Apartments on Worden Street to Condos — Thursday, Aug.8th

The San Diego Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on an application to convert 21 apartment units within three existing buildings into condominium units located at 2916 through 2996 Worden Street.

The hearing will be August 8, 2024, at 9 am in Council Chambers, 12th floor of the City Administration Building at 202 C Street. If the conversion project is approved, then all the tenants who currently live n the 21 apartments would be required to move out, to vacate the premises.

Those same tenants will have the right to contract for the purchase of their unit — for a limited period of time, however — 90 days from the issuance of a building report (see official notice below).

The 1.2 acre project site is within the Peninsula Community Plan area.

The applicant for the conversion is Hunsaker & Associates, who describe themselves as one of San Diego’s “top engineering firms” and this:

Hunsaker and Associates San Diego, Inc.’s services include land planning, civil engineering, survey and mapping, and support services such as GIS and visual simulation. We work with clients in both the private and public sector.

It’s unclear who the owner is, absent a call to the City person handling the project.

Interestingly, it was over 2 years ago that the conversion project appeared in front of the Peninsula Community Planning Board on March 18, 2022. Here’s Rag reporter Geoff Page’s report on that part of the Board’s meeting:

Apartments to Condos on Worden Street

A few years ago, 21 apartments on Worden Street, with great unobstructed views of everything to the west, were remodeled.  The apartments are located just past the intersection of Worden and Bob Street, heading north. They are on the left as the road rises, bends to the right, and becomes Leland.

The property owners now want to convert the units to condos. That means 21 fewer apartments available for rent being replaced by homes the renters probably will not be able to afford.

The property owner is American Assets Trust. The description on the company website states, “American Assets Trust, Inc. is a full service, vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust, or REIT, headquartered in San Diego, California.”

A “real estate investment trust.” These are companies that own and often operate income producing real estate. According to Wikipedia:

“REITs are strong income vehicles because, to avoid incurring liability for U.S. federal income tax, REITs generally must pay out an amount equal to at least 90 percent of their taxable income in the form of dividends to shareholders.”

What this means is the company that controls 83 apartment buildings in the Worden area must maximize profits to keep shareholders happy. Its only concern is those shareholders, that is important.

Jerry Gammieri, representing American Assets, described the project that consists of three buildings. The apartments were built in 1958 and renovated “to condo standard” in 2017. There are five “penthouse” units with the best views on top of the structure. There are amenities such as a pool, lounge, and fire pits.

Gammieri was asked how much the condos will sell for and gave a very squishy answer of around, maybe, about $600,000 to $800,000. These are two-bedroom units. When asked what the home owner’s association fees would be, Gammieri did not even try to ballpark a figure.

In anticipation of the criticism American Assets has probably already heard about removing rental units from the market, Gammieri stressed that they were only converting three of the 83 buildings they had in this area.

During the discussion about affordability, another representative for American Assets said the average rent now is $3,000 a month for the apartments. They also claimed to have statistics that show the average income of their renters is $125,000 to $150,000. They believe some renters will buy the units as they will have the first right to purchase.

It was pointed out that a buyer would need from $120,000 to $160,000 to make a down payment based on Gammieri’s estimate of the selling cost.  While people at those salary levels might be able to pay a monthly mortgage, coming up with that down payment is extremely difficult.

This means people who could afford to live there as renters will now have to live somewhere else in a shrinking rental market.

When asked if any of the new units will be affordable housing, American Assets’s representative said no and that there were none of those at this location, meaning all of the 83 buildings.

The board was divided on this project. One board member made a comment about private property rights that is often heard at planning board meetings as a justification for approving a project the board does not really approve of.

That argument rings hollow when you consider who owns this property. It is one thing to have to approve ugly projects or additional ADUs on properties owned by actual individuals. But, despite what the Supreme Court ruled, corporations are not people.

And, planning boards only provide recommendations, they have no authority. There is no reason then, not to deny a bad project in order to send a message. Voting against this project would not stop it — so why not do it?

This one passed 8 to 5.

Here’s the official Notice from the City for the current conversion application before the Planning Commission (it goes without saying that none of the links in the Notice work):