Mission Valley development machine cranks up

Regional planners in San Diego have placed a bullseye on Mission Valley as the preferred location to absorb San Diego's forecasted population boom.

According to the San Diego Association of Governments' (SANDAG) 2050 Regional Growth Forecast, 700,000 people are expected to move to San Diego by the mid-century. Now, developers and land owners in Mission Valley are taking aim, pitching large mixed-use development projects to the city to get the wrecking ball moving. The latest parcel to go up on the chopping block is the Town and Country hotel, owned by local hotel magnate Terry Brown of Atlas Hotels.

As reported by the Reader, national developer Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group hired lobbyist Paul Robinson to begin greasing the wheels at city hall for redevelopment of the Town and Country, located just south of Fashion Valley Mall in Mission Valley. The wheels are now in motion.

On October 10, the City of San Diego's Development Services Department notified the public that Lowe Enterprises has submitted an application to change the current use from hotel to "mixed-use transit oriented development."

The proposal calls for tearing down the Town and Country hotel to reconfigure the site to make room for a smaller hotel, less convention space, and to add 840 residential units as well as several parking structures.

Town and Country's neighbor, which currently houses the San Diego Union-Tribune, is also slated for an overhaul. On September 11, 2015, former U-T owner Doug Manchester announced he was selling the 12.86-acre daily's headquarters to BBL Commercial Real Estate to re-develop the site to make space for yet another mixed-use development.

The city will hold a public hearing on the Town and Country development in the coming months.