Today, the Prebys Foundation and the Downtown San Diego Partnership presented the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee (LU&H) with a new vision for the six-block area of Downtown that makes up the San Diego Civic Center. 

In separate but related actions, the LU&H committee advanced to the full City Council a plan to redevelop the City-owned building at 101 Ash St. into nearly 250 affordable homes and endorsed a recommendation to make the newly vacated City Operations Building at 1222 First Ave. available to developers under the state’s Surplus Lands Act, potentially for additional affordable housing.  

Afterward, Mayor Todd Gloria issued the following statement: 

“I am grateful to the Prebys Foundation and the Downtown San Diego Partnership for their continued passion for activating our Civic Center with new commerce and culture. Their work provides a visionary roadmap for us to work together to revitalize this key part of our Downtown community.” 

“Combined with the proposed project to transform 101 Ash Street into nearly 250 affordable homes for San Diegans and the action to make the dilapidated City Operations Building property available for redevelopment, today’s presentation marks a significant milestone along the journey to a brighter, more vibrant, and more prosperous future for Downtown San Diego.” 

Background on Civic Center revitalization efforts: In 2022, Mayor Gloria convened an ad hoc committee to create a vision for the redevelopment of the six-block Civic Center core, which included the City Administration Building, Golden Hall, the Evan V. Jones Parkade, the shuttered Downtown Johnny Brown’s restaurant, the Civic Center Plaza office building, the Civic Theatre, 101 Ash St. and the City Operations Building.  

Last December, Mayor Gloria announced that he was halting development of a new City Administration Building and Civic Center Plaza due to budget constraints. Work to redevelop the remaining properties will continue. The work by the Prebys Foundation and the Downtown San Diego Partnership comes at no cost to the City.