North Park Retail Center
- Project Address: 3201-3231 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92104
- Project Owner/ Developer: Meridian Properties
- Owner Contact Name/ Email: Mike Kalscheur/ mkalscheur@mpre-inc.com
- Project Architect/ Designer: John M. Maple - Keith Minnie
North Park Retail is an urban infill project of 24,000 square feet of retail space and 12,000 square feet of parking garage located in the North Park community of San Diego, California. The community of North Park is an extension of downtown San Diego located to the north-east of downtown.
This older residential community features 50’s and 60’s style retail along University Avenue. With growth and increased residential density in the community this “built to suit” new construction for Fresh & Easy Market included the entitlement process and meetings with community groups, including the Greater North Park Community Planning Group, the North Park Main Street Design Committee and City Planning Staff.
The North Park area of San Diego is a mixture of older post WWII smaller retail buildings and the last decade’s midsize box retail.
This project succeeds at incorporating the existing surrounding buildings and recent community urbanization street themes to promote a contemporary and “Good Neighbor”, design.
The project features four main retail spaces in three distinctive buildings that are designed to reflect the existing neighborhood context. Retailers include Fresh N East, US Bank, UPS and AT&T. The design includes one and two story buildings with the smaller two retail buildings connected by a contemporary steel trellised public courtyard.
The contemporary design includes tile patterning and colored stucco finishes reminiscent of prominent nearby public art, which was part of a community revitalization and urbanization campaign. Metal and glass are used to complement the stucco and tile and break up the massing of the buildings’ elevations.
The project was built as Type V wood and stucco construction over one level of Type 1A concrete semi-subterranean parking garage.
The site slopes 25’ from the west to the east corner of the project providing the opportunity for semi-subterranean parking under the grocery retailer. An elevator with a glass window connects the underground parking area to the Fresh & Easy market above. The on-grade parking is screened from the public way by the retail buildings that face University Avenue.
North Park Retail Center was warmly received by the Planning group(s) and has been enjoyed by the community at large and is becoming a pedestrian focal point in the community.
