What’s Moving and Shaking in the East Village? We Asked an Urban Manager Whose Finger Is On the Pulse

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

Marco Li Mandri is a champion of business improvement districts (BIDs). He has established dozens of them across the country for more than three decades. His portfolio includes San Diego’s Little Italy, a district he has managed since 1995 throughout its explosive revitalization. It is also where his BID-forming company, New City America, is based.

Lately, however, Li Mandri’s biggest endeavor is serving as executive director of the East Village Association, which sits among 700 businesses contained within 130 blocks. (Who knew that “the village” would become so massive since the early 2000s, when its only hospitality businesses were the former Cafe Chloe and 57 Degrees Wine Bar?)

Today, the East Village is unrecognizable in comparison, thanks to teeming development, abundant restaurants, emerging parks, and increased recognition by tourists and transplants.

Our chat with Li Mandri gave us reason to get excited over the neighborhood’s ongoing renaissance while providing hope about ongoing solutions to assist the area’s unhoused population.

Downtown Condo Guys: When was the East Village Association formed? And how long have you been involved with it?

Li Mandri: It was formed around 2006-2007 under state legislation as a business improvement district (BID). We’ve managed it since 2022. Geographically, it is the largest BID in the City of San Diego. It is also the last BID that will be formed in San Diego because of California’s Proposition 26.

[Li Mandri is referring to Prop 26 that passed in 2010, not Prop 26 of 2022 pertaining to gambling. The former complicated the legal, procedural and financial requirements to form BIDS.]

Downtown Condo Guys: What is the association’s mission?

Li Mandri: Supporting and promoting businesses, which pertain to those with storefronts.

Downtown Condo Guys: When was the actual birth of the East Village?

Li Mandri: I lived in East Village from 1979 to 1985, when it was called Centre City East. Tuna canneries were still there. It was primarily industrial. I watched from my balcony when the [new] San Diego Police headquarters were built. And, before Jerome’s Furniture was there, it was the San Diego Coliseum, which held professional boxing and luca libre matches. That was the early 80s. Then redevelopment started downtown in the late 70s, followed by the expansion of surrounding areas in the early 90s. Those included Little Italy and East Village. It was named East Village in the early 2000s.

Downtown Condo Guys: If I’m walking east down Market Street from inside the Gaslamp Quarter, where does the East Village technically begin?

Li Mandri: The Gaslamp, which is 18 square blocks located between Harbor Drive and Broadway, ends on the west side of Sixth Avenue if you’re going down Market. So that is where the East Village begins when you’re heading east.

Downtown Condo Guys: At what point in time was the East Village’s biggest boom in terms of commercial and housing development?

Li Mandri: It was between 2005 and 2015, which is when all of the high rises started going up. It was also when a lot of businesses started moving into the East Village’s old industrial buildings because of limited space in the Gaslamp.

Downtown Condo Guys: How many people currently reside in the East Village?

Li Mandri: The estimate is 20,000.

Downtown Condo Guys: What would you say are the main landmarks of the East Village?

Li Mandri: I look at them as assets. Two entities that bring in more people than anything else are Petco Park and Gallagher Square.

Faultline Park is another one because it’s in the heart of East Village. There’s also the San Diego Central Library, and East Village Green, which is the new $100,000 million park in the north end of the Village.

Another asset is that UCSD built their annex [Park & Market] on Market Street. It’s a great hub because it attracts so much activity with speakers and non-profit organizations. I say that as a UCSD graduate. We would love to see USD and SDSU to do the same by expanding their campuses in the East Village as well.

Downtown Condo Guys: What are some of the anchor businesses, and new ones, that have helped shape the district?

Li Mandri: Izola Bakery, which started during Covid. It moved a short distance to Faultline Park. They led to the revitalization of the East Village post-Covid. You also have Cowboy Star restaurant on 10th Avenue, and Bub’s They’ve all been around for a while and have a great following. Also, the Padres just opened Diamond Room bar at Petco Park.

Downtown Condo Guys: What area of the East Village is now the liveliest?

Li Mandri: The commercial core today is along J Street, from Sixth Avenue to 15th Street. That is where you’re seeing the greatest density and walkability.

Downtown Condo Guys: Will the East Village ever have a neon sign like those marking other neighborhoods throughout San Diego?

Li Mandri: I think there will be one installed within the next five years, maybe at J Street near the ballpark. It would be a city and community-approved project.

Although most of San Diego’s landmark signs depict their neighborhood town centers. The East Village is large. It has a few town centers with sub districts such as the ballpark district, the college district around City College, and likely a Faultline Park district and East Village Green district coming.

Downtown Condo Guys: Do tourists tend to overlook the East Village?

Li Mandri: Yes, at this point. But now that Horton Plaza was given back to its lender, it has led to a huge black hole in downtown San Diego along with the Gaslamp having suffered closures from Covid. So the East Village will start tapping into the Convention Center crowd, especially as we begin getting new hotels.

Downtown Condo Guys: What are the biggest challenges facing the East Village?

Li Mandri: Historically, this is where all the social services were centered; the Salvation Army, Alpha Project and Father Joe’s Village. So the question is ‘where do the people living on the streets go?’

The city needs to provide a lot more camping areas outside the city core. The San Diego City Council needs to understand that every council district in our city must accommodate their unhoused populations because there is a concentration of them in the East Village. Although we are now getting all the major players to tackle this as a group, which includes the Padres, the Department of Public Works, the San Diego Police Department and MTS [San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.] They are all part of it.

Downtown Condo Guys: When is the Taste of the East Village this year?

Li Mandri: It will be held on May 13 and 14. It is the fourth annual. Last year between 20 and 30 restaurants participated with over 700 attendees.

Downtown Condo Guys: Looking into your crystal ball, do you see the East Village’s growth slowing down or continuing to boom?

Li Mandri: It will continue booming because there are so many construction projects coming out of the pipeline today such as new high rises and restaurants. We have the greatest opportunities right now for high-density residential development along with public spaces for people to enjoy.