Welcome to Spring! This month, we take a moment to acknowledge the outstanding women who make Latitude 33 a success.
According to the 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, only 14 percent of full-time workers in the architecture and engineering fields are women. In a field dominated by men, Latitude 33’s fearless women serve as role models and trailblazers for other young women. As noted below, two of our female leaders were recognized with regional honors this quarter.
Latitude 33 is thrilled to recognize all of the outstanding women who provide indispensable skills, expertise, leadership, diligence, and dedication to our team. Thank you, ladies, for all you do!
Sincerely,
Latitude 33 Leadership Team
Featured Story
Latitude 33: Striving for Diversification
Since our inception over 25 years ago, Latitude 33 has been a company with a multi-talented staff allowing us to offer expertise in both planning and engineering. As we have grown, diversity has continued to be one of our core values. We have pursued team members who bring unique skillsets to our firm. Planning, civil engineering, surveying & mapping, drone technology, and Geographic Information Systems are a few of the major services we provide today.
Diversity
Latitude 33’s increasingly diverse team and services have contributed to the growth of our expertise and relationships. More than ever, Latitude 33 serves clients in numerous sectors, including municipalities, private developers, hospitals, military, and educational institutions to name a few. From urban neighborhoods to suburban communities, Latitude 33’s scope and capabilities are far-reaching.
The following are two of Latitude 33’s current projects: The Glen at Scripps Ranch and UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest. Both serve as examples of Latitude 33’s diverse project types, and the variety of planning challenges that Latitude 33 can overcome.
The Glen at Scripps Ranch
Project Description
Continuing Life Communities is developing a new retirement community at Scripps Miramar Ranch called the Glen at Scripps Ranch. The community consists of 400 assisted living units in various configurations (villas, garden terraces, and apartment style), 50 acute assisted living units (16 of which are memory care units), and 60 skilled nursing. The 53-acre, state-of-the-art project will also include learning centers, a lecture hall, library, auditorium, fine art facilities, tennis & pickle ball courts, gardens, dog parks, short-game golf course, fitness center, movie theater, tech & business center, pool, sauna, and Jacuzzi. It is the first continuing care retirement community to be built in San Diego in nearly 10 years. The project is anticipated to be complete in November 2020.
Services & Challenges
The Glen at Scripps Ranch is an example of how Latitude 33’s Planning and Engineering departments work together seamlessly to benefit the firm’s clients.
Latitude 33 was chosen to be the lead consultant for the entitlement phase of the development. The firm’s experience, network of strong relationships with local agencies, and access to other resources were invaluable in obtaining the entitlements. The project entitlements included a Community Plan Amendment, Conditional Use Permit, and Planned Development Permit—a process which began four years ago. The property was previously owned by Alliant University, and needed to be re-zoned as residential.
Throughout the entitlement process, Latitude 33 provided vital project management services to keep the project on schedule. Latitude 33 worked closely with the consultant team, owner, and City of San Diego to strategize and determine the best approach to challenges that arose, and supported the team during the public review period.
Another major challenge for this project was identifying the appropriate use classification. Previously, there was no classification within the City of San Diego Municipal Code and General Plan for senior housing. Latitude 33 and the developer, Continuing Life Communities, worked with the City of San Diego to calculate a new fee structure for water and sewer fees specific to senior housing. This process saved the owner $1 million in fees.
Latitude 33’s Planning department took the lead on the client’s public outreach efforts. The firm worked with community members, the planning group, and multiple stakeholders to create a project that ultimately benefited the community. Latitude 33 represented Continuing Life Communities at public hearings, and prepared visual aids to be used during public presentations. Latitude 33’s planning team also assisted with circulation planning to best manage the flow of traffic, pedestrians, and movement throughout the site.
From a design and development standpoint, the Glen at Scripps Ranch represents eight different projects, including numerous grading and building permits. To allow certain portions of the project to permit more quickly than others, the building permits alone were divided into five separate phased packages. Another challenge was the size and scope of the skilled nursing facility, which requires an Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) approval. The main entry also has shared easements and street improvements with a neighbor, which required close coordination to successfully complete this work.
Design challenges for Latitude 33’s Engineering team included working with the existing steep topography, avoiding impacts to the wetlands and housing development immediately downhill from the project site, and accommodating an ever-evolving design to best meet the needs of the end users.
The analysis of site topography offered additional thoughtful planning for Latitude 33. As a senior community, built on a hill, additional consideration was required to minimize the number of steps on site, lower the curbs, flatten walkways, and generally decrease the elevation change throughout to accommodate a senior lifestyle.
Project partners include KTGY Architects and KTU+A Landscape Architects. For more information, visit: http://www.theglenatscrippsranch.com/
UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest
Project Description
UC San Diego has operated a medical campus in the greater Hillcrest area that was originally constructed in 1963 as the County of San Diego Hospital. After six decades of add-on construction and expansions, the University is ready to replace the 11-story medical center. With aging infrastructure, updates in seismic regulations, and technological advances in acute healthcare and outpatient procedures, the University can no longer operate the campus in its existing condition.
UC San Diego hired architecture firm SmithGroup to lead the master planning effort to re-imagine the Wellness Campus in the 21st century—including the hospital and the entire 62-acre site. After extensive community involvement and consultation, the resulting vision is a new Long Range Development Plan, which features districts for healthcare, housing, mixed-use, research, open space, and canyons. The plan calls for redeveloping roughly 34 acres of the 62-acre site with significant infrastructure upgrades, maintaining many of the view corridors and limiting the footprint of the development on the mesa. A commitment to mass transit will connect the UC San Diego Wellness Campus in Hillcrest to other UC San Diego campuses in La Jolla and downtown. The project will be constructed in five to seven phases, all while the hospital remains open, and will be completed in approximately 12 years. The UC Board of Regents are expected to approve the plan and entitlement documents later in 2019, with the Phase 1 design currently underway and groundbreaking anticipated in summer 2020.
Services
As part of the new master planning effort, Latitude 33 consulted on the following with the overall design team:
- Plan for vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian circulation to promote a healthy campus and emphasize a shared space for all types of transportation.
- Analysis of grading impacts due to new structures and site improvements, giving real time results to the design team and client.
- Conceptual design of domestic water, sanitary sewer, and storm drain for the overall master plan. Latitude 33 analyzed the capacity of existing utilities, coordinated utility corridor locations with the design team to fit into the overall strategy of the site plan, and located connection points with public/franchise utility providers to minimize re-work during the phased implementation of the campus.
Matt Semic, PE, Principal at Latitude 33, states, “The canyon topography is a central element of the project design. The development focused in this area during Phase 1 will help marry everything together and connect the UCSD Wellness Campus to the Hillcrest and Mission Hills communities.”
For more information, visit: http://lrdp.ucsd.edu/hillcrest/index.html.
| The Glen at Scripps Ranch | UCSD Hillcrest Hospital | |
| Project Partners | KTGY Architects, KTU+A Landscape Architects, Gates + Associates Landscape Architects | Harris & Associates; Linscott, Law and Greens; Architectural Resources Group, SmithGroup; Spurlock Landscape Architects; TK1SC; Linscott Law & Greenspan (LLG) |
| Address | 10718 Pomerado Rd., San Diego | 200 W Arbor Dr., San Diego |
| Progress | Under construction | Planning stages/Phase1 design |
| Size | 53 acres | 34 acres of 62-acre site |
| Classification | Suburban | Urban |
| Type | New Construction | Redevelopment |
| Key Elements | • 450 assisted living units • 60 skilled nursing beds • Indoor amenity space: learning centers, a lecture hall, library, auditorium, fine art facilities, fitness center, movie theater, tech & business center, pool, sauna, Jacuzzi • Outdoor amenity space: tennis & pickle ball courts, gardens, dog parks, short-game golf course | • Healthcare: up to 300 hospital beds, outpatient, research • Residential: up to 950 residential units • Mixed-use area with up to 50 residential units and wellness services • Open space Canyons • New roads • Outpatient pavilion • Research • Parking Structures |
| Services by Latitude 33 | • Entitlements • Project management • Civil engineering • Developed new use classification with City of San Diego • Topographic survey and construction staking • Planning for Environmentally Sensitive Lands • Circulation plan | • Circulation plan, Alignment studies • Analysis of grading impacts • Analysis of existing utilities • Conceptual design of water, sewer, and storm drain for new master plan |
Community and Culture
Melissa Krause Honored as an Influential Woman of 2019 by the Daily Transcript
In the February 27, 2019 issue of the Daily Transcript, Latitude 33’s Melissa Krause was honored as an Influential Woman of 2019. The annual list recognizes the most talented, innovative, and hard-working women in San Diego. This year, 35 influential women made the list.
One of the highlights from Melissa’s feature article:
Now with Latitude 33 for about four years, Krause was made a principal in the firm last year. Success was never a slam dunk, but instead the product of her tenacity and perseverance.
“It’s a very male-dominated industry and that’s never scared me,” Krause said. “I’ve never felt held back by that. I’ve always been one to focus on ‘OK, well… I’m gonna work hard. I’m going to keep my head up and get to where I think I should be.'”
As a Principal with Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering, Melissa Krause has taken the lead on building and maintaining relationships with the firm’s public and private developer clients. She has spent 20 years successfully managing projects for large residential developers in San Diego County, and now uses her contacts and expertise in a planning role to save developers time and development costs. In the firm’s 25-year history, Latitude 33 has a 100 percent success rate for seeking entitlements, in part due to Melissa’s efforts. As an integral part of the leadership team, she also contributes to the firm’s strategic planning.
In addition to her invaluable contributions at Latitude 33, Melissa has been a member of the Building Industry Association for over 20 years. She serves as a BIA mentor to younger generation (yGEN) members, and has lectured for the yGEN speaker series. Melissa also recently joined NAIOP, and is active on its Legislative Committee. In 2018, she was appointed to the Advisory Board for the Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate at SDSU.
One of San Diego’s most accomplished women in the industry, Melissa was a finalist for the San Diego Business Journal’s 2015 Women Who Mean Business Awards, and a finalist for San Diego Magazine’s 2018 Celebrating Women Awards. Congratulations, Melissa, for this well-deserved honor!
Katie Yee Recognized As an Outstanding Woman in Construction & Design from the SD Business Journal
This year, the San Diego Business Journal initiated a new annual list, recognizing San Diego’s most influential women in construction and design. Latitude 33 is excited to announce that Katie Yee was honored as one of the top 28 women honored by the Business Journal for this first-time honor. Katie’s profile appeared in the February 25, 2019 issue of the San Diego Business Journal.
Katie Yee is a Principal and Chief Relationship Officer at Latitude 33. Her title is an acknowledgement of the value she has brought the firm and an important precedent in an industry where principal titles are often held only by architects and engineers. Her position as Principal reflects both her tenacious drive and ability to leverage her marketing, business development and relationship-building skills to support and grow Latitude 33 as well as the careers of her peers.
Katie is a strong advocate of supporting and growing the ranks of women in commercial real estate. Katie mentors, sponsors, supports and guides women on a daily basis as they progress through their careers. In addition to serving on the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) San Diego board, Katie started the UCREW program for the San Diego chapter to help launch the careers of university students, and she also participates in CREW’s mentorship program, where she mentors a more junior female professional. She has participated in and led numerous other CREW initiatives. For her dedication and hard work, Katie received CREW San Diego’s Outreach Award in 2017.
Katie is also active in the San Diego Building Industry Association (BIA) and the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). Last year, Katie spoke on a local Women in Construction Coalition (WCC) Leadership Series panel on business development. She is also a past recipient of San Diego Metro’s 40 Under 40 honor. Congratulations, Katie!