Savina San Diego | 1388 Kettner Boulevard Condos

The Story of Savina San Diego

Bosa broke ground on Savina in the fall of 2016 and finished the tower in 2019. That timeline matters more than it might sound. Savina was the first new condominium tower to be delivered in downtown San Diego in almost a decade — the recession had frozen high-rise construction, and for years the only way into a downtown tower was through the resale market in buildings from the mid-2000s. When Savina's sales center opened, it absorbed a decade's worth of pent-up demand for new construction, and the pre-sale attention it drew was unlike anything downtown had seen in years.

Bosa is a familiar name on this skyline. The developer has built repeatedly in downtown San Diego and in Vancouver, and its towers tend to share a family resemblance: floor-to-ceiling glass, restrained material palettes, tight construction tolerances, and a preference for fewer, larger residences rather than a maximum unit count. Savina follows that pattern. At 36 stories with 285 homes, the tower averages fewer than eight residences per floor — a density that keeps corridors short and gives most homes more than one exposure.

The address is 1388 Kettner Boulevard, at the northwest shoulder of downtown where the Columbia District gives way to Little Italy. It's a genuinely good corner. West-facing floors look over the rail corridor toward San Diego Bay and Point Loma; north and east exposures catch Little Italy's rooftops, Balboa Park's tree canopy, and the ridge of Bankers Hill. Higher floors get all of it at once.

Architecture and the Street-Level Experience

Savina reads as a slender glass shaft rather than a squat podium block, and the detailing holds up at close range — the glazing lines are clean, the balcony edges are crisp, and the tower doesn't have the fussy applied ornament that dates a lot of early-2000s downtown construction. It presents well from a distance on the I-5 approach and, more importantly, it presents well from the sidewalk directly below, which is where most towers fall apart.

The ground floor carries retail space, and that decision does real work for the building. Living above active storefronts rather than a blank concrete wall changes the experience of arriving home, and it stitches Savina into the block instead of setting it apart from it. Walk the base of the tower and you get street life, not a service alley.

The lobby is calm and vertical — stone, glass, natural light, a staffed front desk rather than a call box. Circulation is straightforward: secured parking below, elevators up. Everything about the arrival sequence is designed to feel like a hotel rather than an apartment building, which is a deliberate Bosa signature and one of the reasons the building has held its position in the downtown market.

Residences, Floor Plates, and Finishes

Savina's published floor plans are organized in bands up the tower: level 2, levels 3 through 5, levels 6 through 24, levels 15 through 30, levels 31 through 34, and the penthouse levels at 35 and 36. Plans across those bands run from roughly 1,196 square feet to about 3,226 square feet at the top. In practice, the resale inventory that trades most often measures between about 1,016 and 2,463 square feet, and the typical residence in the building is around 1,414 square feet configured as two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

That's a meaningful detail for buyers comparing downtown towers. Savina skews larger than the downtown average. There is no deep bench of 600-square-foot studios here — the building was designed around two- and three-bedroom plans with real dining space, wide living-room glass, and primary bedrooms sized for actual furniture. Ceiling heights and window walls make the smaller plans live larger than their square footage suggests.

Finishes are consistent with Bosa's other work: European-style flat-panel cabinetry, integrated and paneled appliances in most plans, stone counters, wide-plank or large-format flooring, and a neutral base palette that most owners have kept rather than replaced. Because the building is only a few years old, the vast majority of residences are still in original condition, which means a buyer is usually evaluating view, exposure, and floor level rather than deferred renovation. Most homes convey with two parking spaces — unusually generous for a downtown high-rise, and a line item worth confirming on any specific unit.

Exposure drives price more than almost anything else here. West and northwest homes carry bay and sunset views; north-facing homes look toward Little Italy and the airport approach; south and east exposures take in the downtown skyline and, from higher floors, the Coronado Bridge. Tour more than one floor before you decide what you're actually buying.

Amenities and Building Services

Savina is a full-service, staffed building — the front desk is reachable directly at 619-255-1204, and secured entry, controlled elevator access, and monitored parking are part of the standard package. Owners of a 2019-vintage Bosa tower can expect the building systems to still be well within their service life, which shows up in lower special-assessment risk compared with towers built fifteen or twenty years earlier.

Because amenity programming, hours, and guest policies change over time, we don't publish a static list. Before you write an offer, we pull the current HOA amenity schedule, the rules and regulations, and the reserve study, and we walk the amenity level with you rather than describing it secondhand. If a specific feature — guest parking, package handling, storage availability, EV charging — is a deal point for you, tell us up front and we'll confirm it in writing with the association.

All residences are single-level and reached by elevator from secured parking and the lobby. Buyers with specific accessibility requirements should ask us to verify door widths, bathroom clearances, and parking-space placement on any individual unit, since these vary by floor plan.

HOA Character and Ownership Costs

The Savina homeowners association is professionally managed by Action Property Management, a firm that runs a number of the region's larger high-rises. That matters in day-to-day ownership: reporting is standardized, vendor management is centralized, and financial documents tend to arrive quickly during escrow — which is not universally true of self-managed or small-portfolio associations.

Monthly dues vary by residence size and are generally reported in the range of roughly $890 to $1,400 per month, with most two-bedroom homes landing near the upper-middle of that band; individual listings have shown figures such as $1,369 per month for a high-floor residence. Dues in a full-service tower fund staffing, insurance, elevators, common-area utilities, and reserves — so compare Savina's number against what it actually covers rather than against a low-service building's fee.

Downtown high-rise insurance costs have risen across San Diego County in recent years, and master-policy premiums are the single most common driver of dues increases in towers of this type. We review the association's budget, reserve funding percentage, insurance renewal history, and any pending litigation disclosures on every Savina transaction we handle. A newer building generally means healthier mechanicals, but the financials still deserve a line-by-line read.

Property taxes downtown follow standard California assessment rules, and buyers should note that some downtown parcels carry additional assessments. We'll confirm the exact tax bill for the specific residence — reported annual figures on high-floor Savina homes have run into the high five figures — so there are no surprises after closing.

The Neighborhood Around 1388 Kettner

Savina sits at the boundary between two distinct downtown districts. To the north is Little Italy, the densest concentration of restaurants and independent retail in the city core, anchored by the Saturday Mercato on Date Street and programmed year-round by the Little Italy Association. To the south and west is the Columbia District, a quieter, more office-and-waterfront-oriented stretch that thins out on weekends. Living at the hinge point means you get Little Italy's energy without living inside it.

The bayfront is a few blocks west. The Embarcadero and the piers along it are managed by the Port of San Diego, and the waterfront promenade runs south past the USS Midway Museum toward Seaport Village and north toward the county's Waterfront Park lawns. It is one of the few genuinely continuous pedestrian corridors in downtown, and it starts within a short walk of Savina's front door.

Transit is a real advantage at this address. The historic Santa Fe Depot is roughly three blocks south on Kettner, serving Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service and, next door, the Metropolitan Transit System Trolley lines that connect to Old Town, Mission Valley, the border, and East County. Petco Park is at the opposite corner of downtown, reachable on foot or in a few minutes by Trolley, and Balboa Park is a short drive northeast.

Two practical notes from walking this area regularly: San Diego International Airport is close, and arriving aircraft are audible on some floors and exposures — tour at different times of day. And the rail corridor runs along the tower's western edge, so west-facing buyers should spend a few minutes on the balcony listening before deciding. Downtown is served by San Diego Unified School District; attendance boundaries for a specific address should be verified with the district directly, as they are subject to change.

How Savina Fits the Downtown Market

Pricing at Savina has consistently sat in the upper tier of the downtown condominium market — well above the county median and above most resale towers from the 2000s. A recent market snapshot showed seven active listings priced between $1,145,000 and $2,250,000, with five closed sales in the preceding 90 days; across the building's full history, recorded sale prices have ranged from the mid-$800,000s for smaller plans up to the high seven figures for penthouse-level homes. Those figures move, and we'll pull live comparables before you make any decision based on them.

The building's format defines its practical appeal: single-level residences with elevator access from secured parking, two parking spaces on most homes, a staffed lobby, no exterior maintenance, and a location that makes a car optional for most daily errands. That combination supports a lock-and-leave ownership pattern well, and it explains why Savina competes directly with the newest towers in the market rather than with the broader downtown resale pool.

What we tell every buyer looking at Savina: the address is the constant, but the residence is the variable. Two homes on the same floor with different exposures can differ substantially in light, noise, view permanence, and resale liquidity. If you'd like to walk the building — lobby, amenity level, and two or three contrasting exposures in a single visit — Hedda Parashos and the Palisade Realty team can arrange it and bring the HOA documents to the table with us.

Savina Listings

When was Savina San Diego built, and who developed it?

Savina was developed by Bosa, with construction starting in fall 2016 and completion in 2019. It was the first new condominium tower delivered in downtown San Diego in nearly a decade, which is part of why it drew so much attention during pre-sales. The 36-story tower holds 285 residences at 1388 Kettner Boulevard.

What are the HOA dues at Savina?

Monthly dues vary by residence size and have generally been reported in the range of roughly $890 to $1,400 per month, with individual listings showing figures such as $1,369 for a high-floor home. The association is professionally managed by Action Property Management. We recommend reviewing the current budget, reserve study, and master insurance renewal for any specific unit before writing an offer.

How large are the residences at Savina?

Published floor plans run from about 1,196 square feet to roughly 3,226 square feet at the penthouse levels on floors 35 and 36. The homes that trade most often measure between approximately 1,016 and 2,463 square feet, and the typical residence in the building is around 1,414 square feet with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Savina skews larger than the downtown average — there is no significant studio inventory here.

What is around the building at 1388 Kettner Boulevard?

Savina sits between Little Italy to the north and the Columbia District to the south, with ground-floor retail at the base of the tower. The Santa Fe Depot, served by Amtrak and Metropolitan Transit System Trolley lines, is roughly three blocks south on Kettner, and the Embarcadero waterfront is a few blocks west. San Diego International Airport is nearby, so aircraft are audible on some exposures — worth checking during a tour.

What do homes at Savina typically sell for?

Savina prices sit in the upper tier of the downtown market, well above the San Diego County median. A recent snapshot showed seven active listings between $1,145,000 and $2,250,000, with five sales closed in the preceding 90 days; across the building's history, recorded prices have ranged from the mid-$800,000s to the high seven figures for penthouse-level homes. Exposure, floor level, and view are the primary price drivers within the building, so live comparables matter more than building-wide averages.