In 2022 The RED Office organized an exhibition at Bread & Salt asking what San Diego might look like if it were built under Complete Communities. The program had been on the books long enough to be argued about and not long enough to be seen.
The premise was that the legislation is less a design guideline than a change in arithmetic. I contributed a series of buildings on standard Hillcrest lots, each designed and then run backward to the rent it would need to return 7% on equity — reported not as a return, which can be assumed into existence, but as a percentage of what the neighborhood already charges.
On a 6,600 square foot lot, eight stories needs essentially market rent. Ten stories needs about 80% of it. Thirteen reverses the trend. The legislation gives you height; geometry takes some of it back.
Figures reflect 2022 costs and capital markets.