San Diego-based Jonathan Segal is a unique kind of builder in that his firm doesn't have any clients. They act as both the architect and developer for all of their projects. This gives them a lot of control over the building process, but also more freedom to experiment.

ULI recently interviewed Segal about his micro-housing project on 320 West Cedar Street in San Diego's Little Italy (called The Continental). And I think it's a pretty interesting case study for us to discuss here on the blog.

It's a 5,000 sf corner site, and Segal developed it with 42 micro units (5 of which are priced at 65% of AMR), two retail spaces at grade, and a separate "single-family townhouse" for his son that sits on top of the retail space at the corner.

The idea was to create relatively affordable "workforce" housing, which is why there's also minimal parking. The 37 market-rate units are currently priced between $1,595 and $1,995 per month, and the affordable ones are about $900 per month.

Segal is forthright in the interview in saying that leasing velocity was slow following completion in December 2019. It was hard to rent these kinds of units in San Diego without any parking. But he viewed the project as an experiment and eventually he did find product-market fit.

The mix of housing types here is also noteworthy. Presumably his son could have just gone out and built a more typical grade-related home. But why do that when you can build on top of an urban retail space and add 42 other homes to the lot?

This morning I attended ULI Toronto's annual "Meet the Chief Planners" event. (Some of my random tweets from the morning can be found here.) Now in its 7th year, it is a great event where all of the chief city planners from around the Greater Golden Horseshoe area come together with professionals from the land use community to network and discuss the future of our cities.

Normally it happens in the evening over dinner and drinks, which is how I attended last year right before our first lockdown (we were at the elbow bump and foot tap stage of the pandemic). But this year it was of course online.

First, I would like to say thank you to Multiplex Construction Canada (our partner on Junction House) for the invite. And secondly, I would like to say kudos to Richard Joy and the rest of ULI Toronto for coordinating such a great event with over 400 virtual attendees.

However, the main point that I would like to make today is that I don't know how anyone can attend a virtual conference and believe that this is some sort of "new norm." I don't know about all of you, but I am ready to go back to rubber chicken dinners and too many glasses of affordably priced wine -- pronto.

I say this not to criticize any of the groups that are working hard today to organize virtual events. I am a big fan of ULI and the work that they do. I would encourage all of you involved in the built environment to join immediately if you're not already members.

Instead, I say this as yet another piece of evidence for why I won't stop writing and talking about the resilience of our cities. Video calls are such an awful substitute for sitting around a table with people and breaking bread. It's not even close.

And so as I sat at my home office desk this morning, listening to the conference and eating McDonald's hotcakes (because, hey, Uber Eats and because, hey, it's Friday), I couldn't help but be reminded of how bullish I am on cities and city life. This, I thought to myself, is why cities are such a centralizing force.

Ultimately, it is also why groups like the Urban Land Institute are so important. It is because our cities matter a great deal and because they're not going anywhere. If you aren't sick of me talking about the resilience of cities, you can also find me in this recent RENX article called, "Toronto residential tower boom shows no signs of slowing."

The Urban Land Institute Toronto is hosting an event and panel discussion on April 8, 2021 about the future of high-rises in our cities. Here's the blurb:

Against the backdrop of the pandemic and its toll, what is the future of high-rises in our cities? What role do tall towers now play in shaping Toronto’s identity? While the pandemic has accelerated existing large trends, residential tall towers are proving the durability of a quality urban centre and hyper-urban lifestyles in Toronto and around the world.

An introduction will be provided by James Parakh (author, Fellow of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, and Urban Design Manager for the Toronto & East York District) and then a discussion will be moderated by Robyn Player (Director, BTY).

The discussion will be focused on what ULI is calling three of Toronto's most exciting tower projects under development: Pinnacle One Yonge, One Delisle, and 11 Yorkville.

I will be on the panel (talking One Delisle) alongside Lee Koutsaris (VP, Sales and Marketing, Metropia) and Anson Kwok (VP, Sales and Marketing, Pinnacle International).

If you'd like to register, you can do that over here. It should be a great/timely conversation.