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University Heights Landmark Tree Saved from Real Estate Investors
By Fawnee Evnochides
January/February 2024
 Left This rare, 120-year-old bunya bunya tree was minding its own business, at the corner of Meade Avenue and Maryland Street in University Heights, until tree-cutting crews arrived on a quiet Sunday in December 2023. Middle Native to Australia, this spectacular tree towers above palm trees and can be seen for miles in and around its historic San Diego neighborhood. Right This beloved bunya bunya pine is expected to survive its severe trimming. Neighbors rallied around it and stopped the crew that severed many of its limbs. The residents prevented the tree’s destruction and want it to be designated a heritage tree. Photos by Susanne Friedrich
The loud whine of chainsaws pierced the tranquility of a Sunday morning in December 2023, as a crew methodically sawed limbs from an enormous bunya bunya Araucaria bidwillii tree, a beloved University Heights landmark visible for miles.
Shocked neighbors soon learned that the trimming was just the start. The entire rare, historic tree at 1404 Meade Avenue was to be removed.
Neighbors converged at the site to protest and the crew paused the cutting. After hours of discussion, the owner’s representatives, from a real estate investment company, IbuySanDiego.com, agreed to allow the 120-year-old tree—now severely pruned and disfigured—to remain in place.
Enter the neighborhood experts. Meade Avenue resident and certified arborist Ed Upchurch said that the tree is likely in shock and would benefit from systemic injections of nutrients, but he is confident it will survive. He estimates the bunya bunya pine, which is native to Australia, adds $40,000 to $50,000 to a property’s value.
Dan Huntley, a 30-year Meade Avenue resident and an expert on pine trees, helped convince the investor to save the tree. Property owners need to be better educated about why it’s important to preserve mature trees, in addition to real-estate value, he said. Mature trees clean the air by reducing carbon dioxide, boost mental health, and help cool the area, Huntley noted.
Susanne Friedrich, another neighbor and longtime SOHO supporter and Marston House Museum docent, also rallied at the tree, which she said is part of the vital character of her historic neighborhood.
The tree guardians aren’t finished yet. “We want to encourage the [property’s] future owners to get the tree designated as a heritage tree, because it is one of the most beautiful examples of this rare tree in San Diego,” Friedrich said. “When you look up at a tree, especially a beautiful tree like this that has been around forever, it just gives you a sense of awe. Trees are the things that don’t change when everything else does.”
According to project manager Dana Calabrese at ibuysandiego.com, the order to remove the tree was a miscommunication within the company. If that hadn't happened, the bunya bunya would still be standing in its full glory.
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