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DEVELOPERS JOIN FORCES TO CREATE
RESIDENTIAL New Downtown Residential Marketing
Alliance (DRMA) SAN DIEGO -With 80 residential, commercial and public projects worth nearly $3 billion currently underway or planned in Downtown San Diego, residential developers are not only investing enormous capital into the city's successful renaissance, but are also joining forces to market their neighborhood. Developers building in San Diego have founded the Downtown Residential Marketing Alliance (DRMA), a first for a major metropolitan city in the country. With the formation on DRMA, builders are not focused on competing against one another for future homebuyers; instead, developers are working together to promote downtown San Diego as an ideal location to live, work and play. Headed by downtown's non-profit business organization, the Downtown San Diego Partnership, participating members in DRMA are sharing marketing dollars, ideas and information in order to present downtown San Diego as the best choice for buyers looking for an exciting urban lifestyle. By focusing potential buyers' attentions on the opportunities a major metropolitan city like San Diego affords, DRMA expects to increase visibility on Downtown as a neighborhood and subsequently, support sales of an estimated 9,000 units in a variety of residential projects available in the next few years. "The formation of DRMA represents a major innovation and shift in residential development marketing for a downtown area," said Barbara Warden, president of the Downtown San Diego Partnership. "By marketing downtown San Diego in the same way developers market suburban master-planned communities, we are able to paint a more complete picture of the remarkable advantages an urban home provides." The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) originally conceived the idea to have developers pool their resources and promote downtown living. Members of the public non-profit entity, designed to promote downtown commercial and residential redevelopment, realized that while great strides have been made in attracting developers to build Downtown, real success would be measured in the amount of people who actually bought homes within the downtown blocks. CCDC proposed that developers work as a single entity, and promote Downtown living as a springboard for increasing interest and sales of their individual projects. "Developers have been extremely responsive to the master marketing idea," said Peter Hall, president of CCDC. "They see the value in presenting one cohesive message about living in a bustling, vibrant Downtown with fabulous restaurants, top notch entertainment venues and a beautiful waterfront." Developers, recognizing the effects an alliance of this kind would have, were quick to participate. Developers and featured projects in DRMA currently include:
"While each developer's project has its own unique appeal, the primary motivation for future buyers hinges on their desire to live in the downtown area," said Douglas Wilson, president of the Douglas Wilson Companies and developer of Parkloft. "This alliance is our most effective outlet to deliver that message and increase awareness of San Diego's downtown residential renaissance. We're very excited to be part of this creative group." DRMA's initial outreach will focus its collaborative marketing strategies around special events and promotions designed to provide information and attract buyers into the Downtown neighborhood. Recently, a collaboration of downtown marketing professionals teamed with builders, the Downtown Partnership and CCDC to present the popular 'Downtown by Design' event, a two-day tour of private homes in the downtown area. The initiative, which attracted more than 1,000 people, was an incredible success, and encouraged developers to create more programs of its kind which generate excitement and promote the benefits of urban living.
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