Another reason why I like the Bayside highrise, is because of it’s protected views.  The Bayside is a close as you can get, residentially, to the embarcadero and because of the airport, you have very protected views to the north.  Floor plans like the A, H, N and R which all face north west, have unobstructed bay and city views(from about the 15^th floor and up).  I personally really like this north west view because you get to see the bay and the airport – a view that I think is great to have.

The views to the south west are also very nice, but they’re not protected.  To the south, you have Lane Field where two hotels will eventually get built and the Navy Broadway complex which will also become home to several highrises.  Additionally, on the south side, you do look into The Grande North, but I personally don’t mind that.  Another thing I like about Bosa’s Bayside condos, is that a public park will be coming in right across the street.  The 15 acre parcel of land between Harbor Drive and Pacific Hwy and Ash and Grape will keep the existing County Administration Center and get some much desires grass around it. 

And now back to why I started writing this post…if you’re interested in buying at Bayside, you might want to act sooner than later.  Bayside has closed on about 90 condos(according to the sales team) and have another 40or so are under contract.  As the number of sales rise, Nat Bosa(the president of Bosa Development) will be less motivated to negotiate with buyers.  Once he gets the money he’s put into it, he’ll be able to sit back and wait for prices to rise, or at least wait for the prices he wants and not what the buyer wants.  Just last week, I helped clients close on a condo at Bayside and we were able to get more than 13% off the list price.  I’m worried that in a few months, or less, we’ll see less seller motivation and fewer deals being made.

Additionally, for those of you who are getting loans, you REALLY should act soon.  I see a 12 month period where we’ll have relatively healthy activity.  After that, buyers will be nauseous from the higher interest rates and only cash buyers will be buying.  Keep in mind, buyers have a short memory.  A 5–7% interest rate might be historically low, but history doesn’t matter.  People who bought homes at 18% interest rates are now looking at 4.75% – they don’t care that they paid a lot more in the past.  All that matters is the $1M home you were going to buy at 5.375% is now only an $850K home after a 1.5% interest rate hike. Sure, rates won’t go up overnight, but they are going up.  And if you think back not too long ago, the Fed raised rates by 0.25% almost every time they met. 

As you can see, mortgage rates rose about 1 percent a quarter at times.  Another thing to think about is that the protected view units at Bayside are very limited.  Take the H floor plan for example – there’s only two of those in the entire building.  If you have any questions about Bayside condos, or any other real estate in San Diego, please contact Denny Oh at 858–243–2092 or denny@sandiegoh.com. 

Click here to see some of the condos for sale in downtown San Diego’s Bayside highrise.

Bayside’s B floorplan sits on the west side of the highrise, between the corner A and C floorplans.  The B floorplan at Bayside is 1,811 sqft and has 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths!  Yes, I said 2 and a HALF bathrooms…something that Bosa has really done in San Diego(I’m not sure if any of Bosa’s San Diego highrises have 2.5 baths).  The model I saw was on a higher floor and had great views.  This is going to be one of Bayside’s strongest selling points in my opinion – protected views(of both water and downtown San Diego’s skyline). 

The B model unit was furnished very well and had a pretty good layout. As you can see from the link above, you enter the condo and have dead on water views off of the living room.  The large balcony is also a great feature, but there’s only one for the condo.  The laundry room(notice that I didn’t say closet) is large and is called the “flex space/laundry” by Bosa.  This is also where the dual HVAC systems are, a nice change from the “what-do-I put-in-here” hallway closets in most other condo highrises.

This Bayside condo, like all the other in the building, has a kitchen island and of course comes with the Viking, Snaidero and Miele appliances.  Bayside’s condos also come with a variety of finishes, including Kahrs wood floors and Caesar Stone counters. 

I still think The Grande’s E plan is one of the best condos in downtown San Diego, but you’ll need to spend some money if you want the Bayside appliances. 

Pricing

Bosa released some of it’s pricing for the Bayside highrise, but only for a few dozen or so condos.  The lowest priced condo they told us about was $569K for a 1,101 sqft townhome – $516/sqft.  You can buy a 10th floor G plan for $713,000 – $514/sqft, or a 16^th floor C plan for $1,001,000 – $712/sqft.  The 17^th floor B unit is priced at $1,161,000, or $641/sqft.  A similar floorplan, the J floorplan, is slightly larger at 1,860 sqft and will cost you $1,500,000 for a 31st floor condo – $806/sqft.  Moving along, Bayside’s H floorplan is quit a bit more expensive, listed at $1,919,000 for a 30th floor 1,886sqft condo – $1,017/sqft.  The 35^th floor S floorplan is HUGE, with 3,226 sqft and is priced just over $3.3 million – $1,023/sqft. 

These larger units are priced similar to the condos at Sapphire Tower, but I can’t compare the views since I haven’t been in the Bayside ones yet.  I’ll keep you posted, but if you have specific questions, just let me know.  I’m anxious to see what other people think of Bayside.  It’s definitely an impressive building from what I’ve seen so far.