Downtown Condo Noise (apartment, houses, to buy)

[andrewtodd3]

Hi,

My wife has just about persuaded me to move to a a new highrise condo tower downtown. The buildings we are primarily looking at are Bayside by Bosa, The Grande and Sapphire Tower.

My biggest concern is noise and I wondered how sound proof the building are. I don't care about noise from outside but rather the neighbors. I currently live in an apartment in Pacific Beach and when the neighbors have parties during weekdays until 3am it gets frustrating. I also have a home cinema and never turn it up too load for fear of disturbing others.

I'd greatly appreciate people sharing their experiences of living in a highrise modern condo.

Many thanks

Andrew

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by andrewtodd3

Hi,

My wife has just about persuaded me to move to a a new highrise condo tower downtown. The buildings we are primarily looking at are Bayside by Bosa, The Grande and Sapphire Tower.

My biggest concern is noise and I wondered how sound proof the building are. I don't care about noise from outside but rather the neighbors. I currently live in an apartment in Pacific Beach and when the neighbors have parties during weekdays until 3am it gets frustrating. I also have a home cinema and never turn it up too load for fear of disturbing others.

I'd greatly appreciate people sharing their experiences of living in a highrise modern condo.

Many thanks

Andrew

Andrew,

I am a former downtown resident. Not in the 3 buildings you mentioned along the bay, but closer to the Gaslamp.
However, we have some former neighbors that we had done some housesitting for at Bayside recently.
As we were looking to buy a place there, we really did our due diligence on them and others so for all intents and purposes, here is a quick snapshot of what to expect.

There are a few good things and potentially some bad things.

The good:
- All 3 are exceptional in build quality. They are fairly new so the trolley and Old Town train station were there long before they were built. Thus were made virtually sound proof to offset noise.
The likelihood of your neighbors hearing your home theater set up are slim. The walls are VERY thick and well insulated. Easily the best buildings I have been in downtown.
You will have to more than likely close the windows at night. But not from PB type party folks but just the white noise from the city itself. The higher the better and facing the bay is ideal.
Overall, in that area, its VERY quiet in regards to "partiers" its not the hippest part of town and the owners that are there are more upscale and older. You may not see your neighbors ever as they are either empty nesters that have a second home there or renters.

The bad:
- All 3 sit on the trolley/ train line. The Grande and Sapphire are more prone to noise than Bayside but not by much. Literally right on top of the tracks where the trains and trolley leave.
The City recently has implemented a "quiet zone" due to residents being ticked about the long haul trains coming through blasting their horns. This is inevitable but for some can be a pain.
Personally I dont get the complaining, just add two and two to look around and see that trolley/train tracks+active trolley/trains= noise.

Granted the higher you are, the less reverberation from the other buildings.

Overall its less noisy than where I lived in the middle of where all the restaurants and clubs were. But even then where I lived the windows were dual paned and once the windows were closed, pretty much cut the sound out.

[jksouthbay88]

If you live in PB,deal with noise,why would you move to DTWN SD and be concerned with noise?It's downtown.There is going to be noise.period.shmoov_groovzsd pretty much summed it up right there.

[andrewtodd3]

Thank you very much for the detailed response shmoov_groovzsd. I can handle the train noise and as you pointed out the quiet zone is likely to be implemented very soon.

You've made me feel a lot better about home theater situation. I've been waiting for years to be the able to use my system to its potential but I am always very conscious about disturbing the neighbors.

Thanks again.

jksouthbay88

We're moving downtown because we love nightclubs, bars, restaurants and the noise of the city. That doesn't mean I have to settle for that noise in my home all night every night. I also don't think it means I should start to be inconsiderate to my neighbors. If everyone downtown were happy to live like that, builders would use single paned windows in all of the high end buildings.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by andrewtodd3

We're moving downtown because we love nightclubs, bars, restaurants and the noise of the city. That doesn't mean I have to settle for that noise in my home all night every night. I also don't think it means I should start to be inconsiderate to my neighbors. If everyone downtown were happy to live like that, builders would use single paned windows in all of the high end buildings.

I wish everyone were as thoughtful as you!