SILO is a large dirt lot at the very eastern edge of downtown. Graffiti murals cover the cement walls, and a black silo with the Makers Quarter logo stands as a signpost to those willing to be a bit more adventurous. Gentrification hasn’t hit this part of East Village. This part of town — with its vacant buildings and rundown warehouses — is still rough around the edges.

That raw potential has drawn the interest of urban planners and developers to the five-block district dubbed Makers Quarter, where SILO is located.

During the next seven to 15 years, plans for the district call for the creation of a dense, vibrant urban environment embracing the crafts and artistic trades. Makers Quarter itself is within the broader IDEA (Innovation, Design, Education, Art) District, a proposed 35-block area in the upper East Village that would become a cluster for technology and design-oriented companies.

“The goal of Makers Quarter and SILO is, and has always been, to establish a community center where creative and inspired partners can come together,” said Stacey Penn-ington, principal of SLP Urban Planning and the lead urban planner for Makers Quarter. “Through community events and gathering venues such as SILO, Makers Quarter and its community partners are working to transform this once vacant area into a vibrant and thriving cultural enclave.”
The focus is on community. The planners and developers behind Makers Quarter seek unprecedented input from the community to build the neighborhood from the ground up. The future of SILO and Makers Quarter, Pennington said, will largely be shaped by the people who live, work and play there.

So far, SILO has hosted craft beer tastings, a film screening, an arts and culture community forum, holiday happenings and Yelp’s Totally Bazaar event.

The site-specific “El Henry,” produced by La Jolla Playhouse in association with San Diego Repertory Theatre, will be the first theatrical event at the venue. But likely not the last.

“The people in charge of SILO are very enlightened and engaged civic citizens of San Diego. They have dreams of fostering a very unique and provocative neighborhood in the East Village,” said Sam Wood-house, artistic director of the Rep. “Having landlords that are more than cooperative – but are actually more like partners, putting resources into an event – is hugely rewarding and helpful.”