Westfield UTC will soon start charging patrons for the privilege of parking at the upscale, outdoor mall.

Starting Jan. 30, the La Jolla-adjacent retail center will institute an all-new fee structure that lets shoppers park for free for two hours and charges them $2 an hour thereafter. The max daily rate, reached after nine hours, is $15. A few tenants — Arclight Cinemas, 24-Hour Fitness and the ice rink — will offer their customers extended periods of free parking.

Westfield made the announcement on its website, where it also noted that mall tenants and their employees will also need to pay to park at the center.

“The new secured parking plan has been designed to help alleviate the inconveniences experienced by UTC guests as a result of the hundreds of vehicles left on-site each day by individuals making visits elsewhere in the local neighborhood,” the mall operator said in a statement posted to its website.


Opened in 1977, Westfield UTC is in the midst of a radical transformation designed to help it weather a brick-and-mortar downturn brought on by e-commerce — Amazon in particular. The mall is currently in the process of wrapping up its second makeover, which added 400,000 square feet of space, a five-level parking structure, and a slew of trendy eateries and high-end stores, at a cost of $600 million.

The site, however, will continue to be a construction zone for years to come. Two real estate investment firms recently partnered on the redevelopment of the 12-acre area formerly occupied by Sears. The Collection at UTC, as that development is called, will house up to 25 premier tenants in 226,200 square feet of space spread across two buildings. The developers are aiming for a mix of retail, office and entertainment venues, with luxury fitness concept Equinox already signed on to the project.

Westfield UTC, now owned by French firm Unibail-Rodamco, also last year broke ground on a $200 million residential building at the corner of Nobel Drive and Lombard Place.

Once the new parking program kicks off at the end of the month, Westfield UTC will staff the mall with additional personnel for traffic direction to facilitate a smooth transition, a spokesperson said. The company declined to share how it plans to use the money pooled through the fees.


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jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin