Downtown San Diego Real Estate | Linda Lederer Bernstein

Downtown San Diego also referred to as Center City, is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth-largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area itself had a population of more than 28,000. Founded in 1850, downtown San Diego serves as the cultural, financial center and central business district of San Diego County with more than 4,000 businesses and nine districts

The city of San Diego was originally focused in Old Town near the Presidio, several miles north of current Downtown. The location was not ideal because it was several miles from navigable water. In 1849 Lt. Andrew B. Gray, a surveyor working with the boundary commission to establish the boundaries of the new state of California, suggested that an area closer to San Diego Bay would be a better location for a city because it would be better for trade. He proposed the idea to William Heath Davis, who recruited four other investors. The partners under Davis's leadership purchased 160 acres (65 ha) of land in what is now Downtown San Diego. They laid out a street plan for New Town and built a wharf and warehouse. Several people built houses there, including the still-standing William Heath Davis House, now a museum.