A SPIRITED SOLUTION

HOW GIN & TONIC HELPED SHAPE DISCUSSIONS FOR A NEW HOME ON MISSION BAY IN SAN DIEGO.

- BY J. MICHAEL WELTON

Developer Chris Loughridge built his new house on a small lot. It takes advantage of its site by opening up to boardwalk and beach.

Sure, the Gin & Tonic may have saved "more Englishmen's lives and minds than all the doctors in the Empire," as Winston Churchill once said.

But more recently, it played a key role in negotiating a San Diego property for real estate developer Chris Loughridge. Despite its zesty bite.

Above: Architect Taal Safdie created places where people can hang out and enjoy themselves on the water. Below: The house faces left with a large overhang hovering inside and out.

Its tonic may taste bitter, but that's from the quinine contained in the 18th-century, antimalarial cocktail. And with a simple twist of lemon or lime, the G & T packs a double whammy: Its tangy dose of Vitamin C staves off scurvy too.

A few years back, though, when Loughridge was working on that 21st-century real estate deal in San Diego, the G & T had been elevated well beyond the realm of medicine.