In 2015, Iconic Real Estate Investments formally announced their presence in the neighborhood by purchasing the 36,000 square foot Noland building for $2.2 million. Within a year, Iconic rehabilitated the building to house three locally owned businesses. Next door, the George Doro Fixture Company operated their business for 97 consecutive years before selling their property to Iconic for $2.5 million in 2016. The Doro building is currently awaiting construction to begin in order to redevelop the property to house complementary uses to the neighboring Noland building.
Image Credit: Gaslamp Quarter Association
One cannot help but to draw comparisons between the emerging Doro District and San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
The Gaslamp Quarter Historic District is a compact neighborhood in downtown San Diego, located adjacent to Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, and San Diego’s waterfront. Historically, the neighborhood was home to many industrial and maritime uses before entering into a period of decline in the 1970’s, earning the reputation of housing businesses of mostly ill repute. In the late 1980’s, private developers and city officials centered redevelopment efforts on this run down historic enclave on the edge of downtown. Today, Gaslamp Quarter is an entertainment and night life destination, drawing visitors attracted by major sporting events, festivals, rooftop bars and dining venues.
Image Credit: San Diego Metropolitan Transit System-
With construction underway on the $65 million 5,500 state-of-the-art amphitheater adjacent to Everbank Field called Daily’s Place, the potential demolishing of a portion of the Hart Bridge elevated ramp system and this week’s release of an RFP to redevelop Metropolitan Park, the future has never been brighter for East Downtown.
Plans for the redevelopment of the Doro Fixtures Building are expected to be announced in early 2017. It is expected that this announcement will create another chapter in East Downtown’s story and help usher in a new era for a once-vibrant, but long since forgotten urban neighborhood.
Article and images by Mike Field and Ennis Davis