Construction begins on Kelvin apartments in Lemon Grove
Plus: Anyone wanna buy a bar?
Workers have finally started tearing down the old Berry’s Athletic Supply building at the corner of Broadway and Grove Street (7946 Broadway) in Lemon Grove’s Downtown Village.
After more than 25 years at the corner of Broadway and Grove, Berry’s vacated the building in May 2021 and moved to a much nicer building around the corner on Lemon Grove Avenue at Lester Avenue.
After demolition is complete, construction will begin on Kelvin, a new five-story mixed-used apartment building.
Details about the new development:
66 market-rate apartment units (3 studio units, 43 one-bedroom units, and 20 two-bedroom units)
71 off-street car parking spaces
7 new on-street car parking spaces
15 bicycle parking spaces in a secured storage room
3,500 square feet of commercial space split between two or three tenants
Rooftop terrace for residents
Approximately 73 feet in height
The Kelvin apartments will be a five-minute walk from the Lemon Grove Depot trolley station, and directly in front of the bus stop for MTS Routes 856 (PDF) and 936 (PDF), with service to San Diego State University and Cuyamaca College.
CityMark is the developer behind Kelvin. CityMark also developed the Celsius apartment complex at Lemon Grove Avenue and North Avenue next to Lemon Grove Depot. And they were the developers of Fahrenheit condominiums in San Diego’s East Village. (They seem to like naming buildings after temperature measurement scales.) Other recent CityMark projects include AV8 apartments in Little Italy and XPO Bankers Hill.
Long before Berry’s bought the Broadway building in 1993, it was a United States National Bank branch, “complete with lookout cupola on top and a large vault room inside,” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. U.S. National Bank was owned by notorious crook C. Arnholt Smith, one of the most influential figures in San Diego history.
The San Diego Reader summarizes Smith’s role in San Diego history well:
C. Arnholt Smith was the biggest player in the old boys’ network that ran San Diego between the 1930s and the early 1970s. The financier and industrialist rose from working-class roots in North Park to control the U.S. National Bank, with almost $1 billion in deposits, and the $200 million Westgate California corporate conglomerate that included National Steel and Shipbuilding, the Yellow Cab Company in major cities in California, an airline, a tuna fleet, canneries, ranches, the Kona Kai Club on Shelter Island, the San Diego Padres, and vast real estate holdings. He built one of the first modem skyscrapers downtown, and his Westgate Plaza hotel was recognized in the 1960s as one of the finest hostelries in the world.
Confidante of presidents, governors, mayors, and district attorneys, Smith held political influence unmatchable today. The San Diego Union once declared him “Mr. San Diego of the Century.” But in the early 1970s, Smith’s empire collapsed. He eventually spent a year in jail on grand theft and tax evasion charges, and his holdings were liquidated in a fire sale frenzy.
Out with the old, in with the new!
IN OTHER NEWS
Dirk’s Nite Club is for sale.
The owner of the dive bar at 7662 Broadway, between Buena Vista Avenue and Olive Street, is retiring and selling both the building and the business after 30 years, according to a commercial real estate advertisement.
Dirk’s is unique among local dive bars — it’s relatively spacious at 3,000 square feet, offers on-site parking for up to 20 cars, and holds a liquor license that allows dancing and live music entertainment. The bar has a devoted clientele, several of whom boast in online reviews that it’s “the Cheers of East County.”
The owner is asking $1,340,000 for both the building and the bar business itself.
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Great article! Thanks for the info :)
Hey, keep it up! You will find your followers in time. There's a need for local reporting.