Mirka Investments has ambitious plans to develop three apartment towers on a 2.11-acre site in downtown San Diego, adjacent to Barrio Logan and East Village.
Estimated to cost $500 million to $600 million, Mirka 1000 is in the early planning stages of the project, but developer Kursat Misirlioglu said that he expects to break ground on the first of the three towers in the third or fourth quarter of 2024.
Founder and CEO
Mirka Investments, LLC
“The beauty about this overall master plan, the key point is integration,” Misirlioglu said, adding that the project would include a mx of affordable and market-rate apartments.
“We want to bring in middle income, work force housing combined with affordable.”
Also in the works is a $200 million apartment tower that Mirka Investments plans to build in National City, Azurik, with construction scheduled to start in early 2024.
Designed by Joseph Wong Design Associates, the 22-story Azurik on Roosevelt Avenue between East 2nd Street and East 3rd Street in National City, would be one of the tallest buildings in South County, with high visibility from Interstate 5, which is adjacent to the site.
Similarly, Mirka 1000 would be among the tallest buildings in the southeast quarter of downtown San Diego, according to its designer, Joseph Martinez, founding principal of Martinez & Cutri Architects, the architects on the project.
Landmark
Construction of Mirka 1000 would start with a 27-story apartment tower, with 318 apartments, Misirlioglu said.
He said that the first apartment tower would be geared toward families, with half of the apartments two-bedroom units and half three-bedroom units.
“Large families are ignored in such key destinations,” Misirlioglu said. “We want to change that.”
The site for Mirka 1000 is on National Avenue across the street from St. Teresa of Calcutta Villa, a $148 million, 14-story apartment building completed in 2022 by Father Joe’s Villages in partnership with Chelsea Investment Corp.
Misirlioglu said that half of the apartments in the first tower would be affordable units for low-income families.
A second 33-story tower would have 27 apartments, and the project would conclude with a 38-story tower of 412 apartments.
Construction of the second and third towers would likely start in 2025, Misirlioglu said, although he said that they could start at the same time.
The design of the first tower would have what Martinez described as “a garden aesthetic” with “lush landscaping along the public realm, a corner trellised patio, and a rooftop south-facing garden.”
Founding Principal
Martinez + Cutri Architects
“This goes hand-in-hand with the building’s theme, an abstraction of hanging gardens,” Martinez said.
The second tower “is designed as a rectangular solid” with a six-story grid frame that Martinez said is meant to pay homage to the grid of city streets around the project.
Tower three will be the “signature tower” of Mirka 1000, “the gateway into downtown,” Martinez said. “That one brings forth the character and personality and charm of 21st Century downtown San Diego.”
The tower would have a horizontal, blue-striped balcony at the same height of the tower as the Coronado Bridge, which can be seen from the tower, Martinez said.
The upper floors would “feature colorful balconies in a serape pattern” meant to connect the project visually with the Mexican-American community in Barrio Logan, according to Martinez.
The tower will have black and white striping on the south façade meant to symbolize “the struggle between residential and industrial land uses in Barrio Logan,” Martinez said.
Taken together, the three towers will be designed and built “to achieve iconic, landmark status,” Martinez added.
Mirka Investments, LLC
Founded: 2018
CEO: Kursat Misirlioglu
Headquarters: Downtown San Diego
Business: Affordable housing development
Employees: 10
Website: www.mirkainvest.com
Contact: 619-323-1447
Notable: Mirka Investments has developed multiple affordable housing projects in Southern California, concentrating on communities within San Diego County.
Martinez + Cutri Architects
Founded: 1980
Headquarters: Downtown San Diego
Founding principals: Joseph Martinez and Anthony Cutri
Business: Architecture
Employees: 20
Website: www.martinezcutri.com
Contact: 619-233-4857
Notable: The firm has planned and designed more than 200 projects with a construction value of $2 billion.
