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Half Door Brewing Company to Open January 9

East Village residents will soon have another option among a growing number of new restaurants and bars. At Ninth and Island, the long-awaited Half Door Brewing Company is set to open on Friday, January 9.

The project comes from the Drayne family, who also operate The Field in the Gaslamp Quarter. San Diego Reader has more on the story of its sibling operators Dan and Stacy Drayne, as well as details on the upcoming beer offerings.

The restaurant and brewery will each be two stories, with plenty of outdoor seating. Since our last update in August, you can hardly tell that the right half of the building was only recently added. We can’t wait to see the interior of the old white house, built in 1906.

Curious about the food? Check out the sample menu on Half Door’s website, featuring specialties like the Brewer’s Pie—Coleman’s stout braised short rib, puff pastry—or the Amber Ale Braised Pork Belly, served with mashed potatoes, lacinato black kale, oyster mushrooms, and pork belly jus.

Topping Off 15th and Island

The first of two residential towers at 15th and Island was recently topped off in the East Village. At 479 feet tall, it will become San Diego’s tallest residential tower and fourth tallest overall building.

It’s hard to miss the 45-story tower while traveling around Downtown. Between both towers, the development is expected to contain 956 residential units, including 72 affordable units.

Pinnacle at 15th and Island

Construction on Tower 2 should begin in 2015.

The entire development was previously approved to include 17,127 square feet of commercial space, including 4,157 square feet in this first phase currently under construction.

However, developer Pinnacle International recently applied for alternative interim uses for the commercial space in Tower 1, claiming that commercial leases would not be economically viable for some years.

Those alternative uses probably include leasing the parcels as office space for the first few years, until development ramps up in this part of the East Village.

Plans for additional commercial space in Tower 2 will remain in place for now, as the developer believes the neighborhood will be ready by the time it opens.

The developer cited a retail market study conducted earlier in 2014, which found that recent retail leases in the East Village included significant discounts and incentives from landlords. For example, LA-based Cafe Primo is said to have received 22 months of free rent for its 5,469-square-foot space at 13th and Market, plus a $820,000 subsidy from the landlord to build out the space.

Stella Public House and Halcyon, which recently opened to favorable reviews on the northwest corner of the development, was cited as a similar example. Here, the landlord provided an $80,000 subsidy to build out the space, as well as a year of free rent. That’s intended to allow the dual restaurants to gain a following and anchor the upcoming park on the same block.

San Diego Magazine offered a great first look at the beautiful interior last month. Once the park is complete, that patio might just be the perfect spot to enjoy a cocktail.

Landscape architecture firm Spurlock Poirier has several renderings of the unnamed 14th and Island park on its website.

While digging around the firm’s website, we learned that the park is actually being built on a fault line that runs through the block. The land is pretty much unbuildable for anything else, which is good news for the neighborhood. The green space will be a wonderful addition to the East Village.

In the coming months, we’ll be watching as the finishing touches are made on one of San Diego’s biggest new buildings.

Sempra and Pinnacle Growing Up Fast in the East Village

We’ve had our eyes on the East Village as two of Downtown’s fastest growing buildings continue to rise. After just a short time, the new headquarters for Sempra Energy has already shot up seven stories.

In June, we told you about plans for the new headquarters, where the energy company will move 700 employees next summer. Work continues on the 16-story building along Eighth Avenue between Island and J.

The developer has restored the previously-removed fourth roll-up door on the left side of the remaining red facade. Those doors will allow access to the underground parking garage. This section, known as the Unicorn Building, will become a new restaurant/retail space.

We love construction cranes, and this project has two. The center tower continues to rise a few floors ahead of the rest.

Meanwhile, Vancouver-based Pinnacle International has made significant progress on first of two 45-story residential towers at 15th and J.

They’re already up to about 31 floors, but have plenty more to go. Located on the far end of the East Village, the project has already made a big impact on the Downtown skyline.

Solid construction walls recently came down to reveal what will eventually become a large public park outside the first tower. We understand that the towers will include commercial space at ground level, so hopefully that means at least one of those big spaces will hold some sort of cafe along the park.

On the northwest corner of the block, Texas-based Stella Public House and Halcyon are also working on a shared restaurant space with a large patio overlooking the new park. Eater San Diego shared in July that the restaurants hope to open by next month, but we’ll believe it when we see it.

Keeping it Real at Juice in the East Village

On our Labor Day stroll through Downtown, we finally popped inside Juice at 871 G Street, one of two new East Village concepts from craft cocktail experts Consortium Holdings.

We love a good neon sign, even if it’s a small one.

Still in its first couple months of operation, Juice is a cold-pressed juice bar offering a selection of healthy, natural drinks. That’s a little different from the usual bar and lounge concepts for which Consortium Holdings has become known at their other joints like Craft and Commerce and Ironside Fish & Oyster. They recently opened Rare Form in the East Village as well.

Juice in East Village, San Diego

Inside, the Juice crew was super friendly and quick to offer samples and suggestions. We eyed the breakfast bowl the dude in the corner seemed to be enjoying. It was one of their Morning Bowls—hemp granola, mixed berries, raw honey, coconut flakes, and your choice of yogurt, frozen avocado/mango/pineapple, or frozen banana/almond. Now that’s a complete breakfast.

We were craving avocado, so we decided on the Mango Enchanted—frozen avocado, mango, and pineapple blended with your choice of Pulp Fiction or Drop The Beet. They poured samples of both options and we decided on Pulp Fiction, a signature juice containing spinach, cucumber, pineapple, and cilantro. They gave us the leftover from the bottle so we could taste it on its own as well.

According the menu, the ingredients in our concoction can lower blood pressure, fight free radicals, improve memory, and flush toxins. There’s a big focus on health benefits here—”keep it real” is their tagline.

Simple, but cool interior. Yes, those are the lyrics from Notorious B.I.G.’s Juicy on the wall.

The prices are steep at $8 for their standard 16-ounce juices or $9 for a blended drink like the one above, but we have to say that it was a worthy treat that we’d certainly have again.

Juice in East Village, San Diego

With similar juice joints opening around town—Ritual Juicebox in Hillcrest and Juice Crafters coming soon to Little Italy and Hillcrest—this one is certainly worth a visit. Close by, Sol Cal Vegan Market will also serve cold-pressed juices, but we’re still waiting for more on that one.

Keeping Downtown Neighborhoods Beautiful

You may have noticed that your Downtown neighborhood is looking a little greener these days, as the Downtown San Diego Partnership continues its beautification efforts on the streets. We watched as crews installed large planters and new flower baskets around Cortez Hill last week.

The pots aren’t exactly our style, but we welcome any kind of new greenery.

See those new pots on each corner? They were added in sets of three around Cortez Hill.

Hanging from the recently-upgraded LED streetlamps are these new hanging baskets, which you’ve probably seen in other neighborhoods.

These seem to have a better watering system than the older ones. The Clean & Safe crew can quickly connect to a hose down low, which runs up the post and sprinkles water over each basket.

Last week, Downtown San Diego Partnership shared a gallery of photos on Facebook to show what goes into assembling the baskets.

Additional beautification efforts are planned in other Downtown neighborhoods. Downtown Partnership says they’ll be hanging pots in some places and placing planters in others. The tree lighting program we previously highlighted is set to continue along the major corridors as well.