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You can’t eat the fabulous view, but you can drink it in while you eat.

San Diego locals probably don’t think much about “city living.” Sure, there are no fewer than 19 locales within the county’s borders that bear the “City Of” moniker, but we’re not New York, Chicago, or even Boston. Skyscrapers and penthouse suites aren’t our thing; we’re more a beach bungalow and suburban tract kind of town.

Still, that’s not to say that we don’t offer a bit of metropolitan flair, and whether you regard the effort in recent decades to gentrify the downtown area as exacerbating our housing crisis or earning us a seat at the grown-ups’ table in terms of prestige, it would be a foolish to ignore the fact we now have a decent collection of big, shiny buildings that come just short of blocking the airport flight path along the coast. And though the Harbor Club towers across from the convention center were built just 30 years ago, given the city’s historically-stunted development, that’s old enough to make them elder statesmen among the town’s glass-walled high rises.

Oh hi, Hyatt!

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So, who’s ready to “enjoy breathtaking 360-degree ocean, San Diego Bay, Downtown cityscape and surrounding landmark views?” Because that’s what the opening Zillow line for our visit today — a $5.5 million condo at 100 Harbor Drive — invites us to do. We begin our tour in a glass-walled dining area, with a massive orange chandelier hanging down and a rock patio wall obscuring our view of the convention center while still allowing us with a panorama of the bay, Coronado, and beyond to the Pacific.

From there, we head outside for a view of that stone-lined deck, with outdoor dining and living areas larger than the yards of some houses elsewhere in the city that I’ve toured with clients. Radiant gas heaters mounted in the ceiling look like they’d be more than sufficient to ward off any chilly ocean breezes in the winter, and while I can’t tell for sure, it looks like we’re at least as high up as the top of the Hyatt, visible off in the distance. A sunset view looking off the edge of the patio is particularly impressive, with the buildings and marina below all alight. The eastern skyline, looking over the rest of the city, is nothing to sneeze at either.

After a bit, we make it back inside, to the “grand foyer that leads to the main living floor with its formal living and dining rooms, gourmet kitchen, two en-suite bedrooms and the first of three balconies,” which the listing would like to remind us is equipped with a full outdoor kitchen. Proceeding through the foyer, we see the entryway with a staircase leading to a second level. Leaving that alone for now, we pass to a living area with curved glass walls and a fireplace/television wall lined with stone tiles that look both retro and modern at the same time — like the old stone wall fireplace my childhood house had, but classier. I like this.

Back outside, we get some more deck shots, including one highlighting the sort of outdoor pizza oven that for a while was an ubiquitous feature of Unreal columns. I am no longer impressed by these, though I certainly still believe they’re likely very expensive, and probably make great pizza.

The next shot takes us back to the staircase, which I assume means it’s time to head upstairs, where “the second floor is dedicated to the expansive primary retreat that provides sitting and office areas, luxurious spa-inspired bath and two balconies.” Wow, two balconies just for the main bedroom, while the rest of the house only gets one? Okay, I have now learned that separate spousal balconies are a thing — maybe not as much of a thing as separate bathrooms in an owner’s suite, but still a thing, since I have seen it once. Up here, we get another small living room with no fireplace but an even larger TV, an office space, and a bedroom where the television monitor blocks a significant chunk of window space. One of the balconies sports a pair of wicker loungers and even more views. Then we look at the bedroom a few more times before we get to the bathroom, which has a tile and handrail-lined hallway just to get to the massive shower, which looks spacious enough at first glance to house half a baseball team. The soaking tub looking out at the city is nice, though.

After a trip through a bedroom-sized walk-in closet lined in wood, we get even more view photos and a shot of the third balcony (which looks rather pedestrian in comparison with the others) before getting to the kitchen. It’s a double-galley style: spacious enough and nicely appointed, but the circular bar at the end of the kitchen hallway leading back to the common areas is probably the highlight here.

Bouncing around the rest of the unit, I think the most striking thing is the powder room, lined floor-to-ceiling with tiny square tiles ranging from beige to brown, featuring a circular vanity and vessel sink. This room would weird out a lot of my guests, but I like it, nonetheless.

The remainder of our tour is of the Harbor Club grounds. A low building fee of $1765 per month gets you access to three private garage parking spaces, a storage unit, pool, spa, sauna, fitness center, clubhouse, firepits, and barbecue areas that mark “just a few of the ways to relax in comfort and style!”

Public records list the owner of unit 4102 as William Trzos, a “financial services and insurance related verticals” professional. The last time we visited a Harbor Club unit, back in 2020, the seller was seeking $5.25 million for a combination of unites 3803 and 3804 of roughly the same size as this place, albeit a few floors lower. They never got it, and the property is now off-market. Our current unit was listed at $5,999,000 in late August after last selling for a reported $4.1 million a little over a year ago. Public records list the total living area at 3714 square feet, but the listing claims 4400 square feet — perhaps this includes the outdoor deck space? In September, the price was cut by a half-million dollars to $5,499,000, which remains unchanged to date.

• 100 Harbor Drive #4102 | San Diego, 92101
• Current owner: William Trzos | Listing price: $5,499,000 | Beds: 3 | Baths: 4 | House size: 3714 or 4400 (see article)