Condos with the Best Views in Downtown San Diego

Which Condo in Downtown San Diego has the best View?

Every condo shopper in San Diego wants their new condo to have a view, that’s a given, but what type of view is considered the best view?  To most people a view of the San Diego bay (water view) is ideal with a city view a distant second place.   One thing savvy buyers also take into consideration is the possibility of the view being blocked in the future.  There are various types of water views and city views and the demand for the various views may surprise you.

First lets explore the water views.  Some water views are limited to the San Diego Bay, while others if high enough will also have a view of the Pacific Ocean over Coronado.  Depending on where the building is in downtown San Diego, your view will vary dramatically depending on which floor you are on.  If for example you are in the Marina District facing South, you will need to be on the 10^th floor or higher to have a view of the water over the convention center.  The buildings in the Marina District this applies to are the Horizons condos, Pinnacle condos, Cityfront Terrace condos, Renaissance condos and the Harbor Club condos. 

In the Marina District and Columbia District buildings facing West these all have unobstructed water views now from anything but the lowest floors.  However, that western water view will change dramatically starting in 2018 with the $1.0+ Billion dollar development of the land located between Broadway and Seaport Village, West of Pacific Highway and East of Harbor Drive.  This land has a couple of different names, one is the Broadway Complex, the other name is Manchester Pacific Gateway.  The buildings this development will affect include, Pinnacle, Renaissance, Meridian Park Place, Electra, Pacific Gate The Grande and a few floor plans in the Bayside condos.

To hit the highlights of that development, its all commercial (hotels, offices, retail).  There are going to be 4 high rise buildings there and many mid rises.  Note that from a building directly East of the development, only 30% of the views to the bay will be obstructed by these 4 high rises, leaving 70% of your water view intact.  If your condo looks over this land from an angle your views could be obstructed more or less depending on how close you are and the angle as two of these high rises will be 227 feet wide and one 260 feet wide. 

What about city views?  Almost every high rise condo building in downtown San Diego that has a great water view will also have great city views looking east.  Be careful when picking out a unit as some buildings are so close that your view is obstructed by the building across the street.  These are the hardest units to sell because everyone looking to buy in a high rise building wants a great view so the discount you see on the price today relative to the prime view units will also be experienced when you go to sell the unit. 

This leads me to the last category, what about buildings with both a great water view and a great city view.  In choosing a condo in San Diego that has both views you need to be very careful because these buildings are often located in the middle of the city with the risk of more buildings blocking their water views.  Fortunately there are a limited number of lots left to build a high rise condo building on and those have already been spoken for and artist renderings are available for the future building.  So there is not much mystery there, perhaps the only mystery is when will it actually get built. 

Getting back to naming names, the buildings with the best water and city views from the same unit (not say a west facing unit and an east facing unit, but both water and city views in the same single unit) are The Mark Condominiums in the East Village.  This also has one huge, huge bonus, a view directly in the playing field at Petco Park where the San Diego Padres play baseball.  You have to be on roughly the 20^th floor & up to get that view into the playing field.  Another great choice of water and city views is the Meridian condos and the Harbor Club condos. 

In summary, here are the best buildings to buy a condo in San Diego if you want a great view. 

1. The Metropolitan condos (unobstructed views of bay, ocean and city, even low floors).
2. The Mark condos (water, city and ballpark).
3. Bayside condos (unobstructed water views to the West & city views to the North).
4. Harbor Club condos (unobstructed water views, 10^th floor & up)
5. The Grande condos, most notably the 1,944sf floor plan and a big plus to be 20 floors and up. 
   
6. Pacific Gate condos, has one very special feature, this building is wrapped in a curtain of glass, rather than glass stuck in a drywall frame, there are no outside walls, only windows.  This means you have a view out every room and Pacific Gate offers some great bay and city views. 
7. Park One condos  in Bankers Hill, built at the highest elevation of all condos, 360 degree views of Balboa Park, Bay, City and Mountains.