Those doors and "balconies?" on the northwest side look as if they are only there for the purpose of pushing someone out. . . or jumping.

I just had to register here so that I could post my thoughts about this monstrosity.

I went to the Open House that they hosted a few months ago and couldn't believe my eyes. You can find a floor plan at http://www.miarbolito.com/imgs/building/floorplan_lg.gif. Here are a few of the things I saw (North is to the left):

In the south-west corner, there are two large windows that meet at the corner. In front of them, INSIDE THE ROOM, there is an 18" support column. In order to wash the windows, you have to reach around behind the column.

If you look out the west window of the living room, you are treated to a view of the back side of the ornamental metal screen. Needless to say, the back side is not finished very nicely. (That's the one that has the fireplace vents poking out of it.)

The Master Bedroom has no windows! There is a door with a glass panel leading out to the main balcony. That's all the natural light in the room. However, there is a door which leads from the Master Bedroom directly into the Dining Room!

If the door from the entry way to the second bedroom is open, you can't go from the bedroom to the bath!

The 'Juliet balconies' are about 4' or 5' square. They have an outwardly opening hinged door. Furniture on the balcony? Lots o' luck!

There is a small, windowless room opposite the kitchen labeled "Office." I have a similar room in my condo. It's a pantry!

The dishwasher is not in the same bank of cabinets as the sink. (It's just to the right of the range.) In fact, when the dishwasher door is open, you can't stand directly in front of the sink.

There is a strange entry room with three doors between the Foyer, the Master Bath, and the Fire Stairway. I have no idea what this is for.

I have added up all the asking prices and it comes to over $25 million. Assuming that the developers were planning on making a 100% return on their investment, that means that they would have invested over $12.5 million in the project. Who in their right mind would invest this kind of money in a project without having somebody point out problems like those above.

Oh yes, the title of this comment, "The pool"- I would like to start a pool based on how long it's going to take this property to go into receivership.

condo project at the corner of 6th ave and upas , overlooking balboa park. this might have received an onion when it was unfinished, but after seeing the completed project, it puts it in a whole new level of "onioness" .it did look much better undone! take a look at the opening metal screen that is punctuated by fireplace exhaust vents that rises the entire height of the building. the fence surrounding the property makes it appear as an extension of the downtown jail. how you enter the project is anyones guess, but surely after viewing the building, they really don't need to bother with a door as no one will want to.

Its a shame that such a prominate site was SO poorly designed. The only two good points about this project is the location and view...well only if you are not looking at it. It has no architectural charter, except BAD. The shape of the building in plan is odd, with oddly placed windows and balcony. Whats with the small balcony out back?! The building has no architectural details. I am a fan of modern, so no argument that it is trying for that. It does not take advantage of the site, with the tower shoved all the way to the front and this odd small garage attached. Try and find the front entry. I've seen more of a entry statement to a dump...well. I was at least hopeing that the landscaping would help, but it is par with the building. Being an architect, I understand budgets and working with developers, but this building is SO BAD, there is no excuse for it! The architect should be ashamed, but more so not be allowed to design in San Diego again. I have never seen anything good came out of that office...I guess they have a reputation to keep up.

These photos don't adequately convey how awful this structure is. Up close, every detail dutifully magnifies the mediocrity. The odd triangular vertical indents on the back side have a ledge on every floor that prominently feature anti-bird technology (spikes). The largest windows seem to have one small part that can open - sort of a cruel tease for the inhabitants. The 14 duplicate Juliet balconies look especially naked and lonely. The vertical indentation up the Sixth Avenue side seems to showcase aluminum boxes. I'm staying at the Park Manor, which I love, and I walk by Mi Arbolito every day. It is the architectural equivalent of a crime.

maybe it's nice on the inside.

I guess just plant some fake palm trees at the base and call it good. Maybe it will make a good climbing tower.

what a spectacularly ugly building. it's sooo bad, it's good (as a warning to architects the world over). the only way this could improve after construction is completed (to answer one of the comments) is to have Christo come over and drape it in pink! XD

Martinez & Cutri prove over and over again, that they only care about the $ and not the lasting impression their buildings leave on the city. This building looks like it was designed only by floor plan in a 3D modeling program, and just copied 14 times in the vertical. By far, the worst building in this category. I really wish this firm would leave town.

Depending on the side you view, it looks like a poorly designed cheap hotel, a public parking garage, or - as noted above - the Federal jail... hmm, exclusive, indeed!

So much opportunity wasted with a poor design eye, and greedy-value engineering. This looks like it was designed by an accountant, not an architect. Thank god the park will last longer than this building. It is the Grand Onion because not only is it bad but because of how important the sight is to the city of San Diego.

This building should be imploded. How could these architects even be allowed to practice in San Diego? This building is not only an eyesore but an embarrassment to the residents of Bankers Hill. Talk about lost opportunity here...who would design a high rise with views to the bay and yet put a blank wall facing west? How did this even get through planning? A disaster of epic proportions...let us pray this is fixed somehow before construction is completed. Get a new architect - quickly!

Senior high rise? Public housing? Fire tower for fire fighters in training? Looks like that funky twin tower hotel complex whose name escapes me at the moment. I bet the earth cried when that rose up out of it.

What they said. Ungraceful on the large scale, and lacking in any charming architectural detail or street-level allure. But also, I feel for the people in the Del Prado. While it has little charm, reflective of its era, it has been a gem of sorts all these years with its prime location with gorgeous views. Now many of its residents have their view blocked by this ugliness. kstanis

I don't like this thing any more than any of the other commentors, but ... ~The site has a very small footprint, the only way to go was UP; ~It really DOES fit in with the one next to it - context means something in siting and architecture; ~There is something positive to be said for the use of vertical repetition; ~There are SO many more other worser structures all over our city, does this one really deserve such opprobrium?

That big apartment building is a bit much, a huge chunk of concrete with not much style. Now they have the tower as an exclamation point. YUK! Marianne

To the ding bat architects- Take the pencil out of your hand and walk into the ocean with a sandbag tied to your waist. You continue to do more damage to this city than anyone else.

For two or three years (more?) there was nothing but an empty hole at that location. A "West Nile Virus Breeding Ground" as one graffiti artist put it. So, when construction began I was hopeful that something special would arise from this very prominent site. Oh, my. We got "special" all right--just not the good kind of special. It's north side really does look like the Fed prison downtown. The west side looks like a low-income senior housing hi-rise. The south side looks like a bi-polar split between a glass office hi-rise and a Holiday Inn. The north side? I don't know. I've been afraid to look. My guess about the lack of pedestal base/entrance is that it was done 100% to maximize salable floor area. This place is in the running for Grand Onion.

It's pretty sad when a building is so bland that it starts to make the Del Prado look like a Modernist Gem. I hope the future owners don't have any friends or family members that would want to visit. It seems the primary entrance is through the sub-grade garage.

It pains me and everyone in the design community (and greater community as a whole) to see this horrible building being erected. The hole that was there for two years is better than what came out of it. Who the heck let this thing pass through the building and planning departments or better yet...who's going to get to the bottom of who allowed the changes. It actually relates quite well to the adjacent building making this a horrible 'block' of architecture...and right next to the City's gem, Balboa Park. I think Irving Gill and the Marstens will turn over in their graves once this thing is 'completed'. Lets hang our hats on this as a Grand Onion...seriously.

Yikes! I didn't know it was possible to stack manure this high. Isn't it interesting how the architects chose to turn the ugliest faces of this inane tower toward the primary street frontage? This thing is actually mooning all of us (see the center photo above for proof). The nominator's comparison to the downtown jail is exactly right. Hopefully people can escape from this smelly heap.