Grantville, an aging industrial area sandwiched between Mission Valley and San Diego State, would become more like Little Italy and other neighborhoods that have multi-story condominiums and apartments under a new city plan unveiled last week.

Community leaders say the plan is overdue because Grantville, which has only a few hundred residents, is an ideal place to absorb some of the additional housing San Diego will need as the city’s population continues to grow in coming decades.

“It’s a prime location for density directly next to the trolley and two busy freeways,” said Ray Wilson, vice chairman of the Navajo Community Planning Group, which covers Grantville, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro and San Carlos. “This has been a long time coming.”

The community’s enthusiasm for dense housing projects is in stark contrast to many other San Diego neighborhoods.


Carmel Valley residents have vocally opposed the planned One Paseo “smart growth” project this fall. And residents near Morena Boulevard successfully fought this summer against allowing high-rises on a new trolley line planned for the area.

The Grantville plan would add as many as 8,275 housing units and 22,000 people to the neighborhood, which has had a relatively under-used station on the San Diego Trolley’s green line since 2005. SDSU students and staff would be the most likely tenants for much of the housing, which could rise as high as five stories, city officials said.

The plan also dovetails with a climate action plan Mayor Kevin Faulconer unveiled last week to help reduce greenhouse gases. That plan calls for more high-density housing near mass transit and along existing transportation corridors, such as Interstates 8 and 15 that border Grantville.


The plans also call for making the San Diego River, which flows through Grantville inconspicuously, a centerpiece of the community that would someday feature adjacent parks and possibly open air restaurants overlooking it.

“Another asset in Grantville is the river, but you don’t even know it’s there right now,” said city Principal Planner Brian Schoenfisch, who is coordinating the proposed changes to the Grantville Community Plan.

The changes won’t come immediately — the plan envisions them happening over the next 30 years — and major hurdles include the area’s susceptibility to flooding and the need for developers to spend many millions on large housing projects with ground floor restaurants and shops.

Previous plans to transform Grantville relied on state redevelopment money, which was eliminated three years ago. Now most of the money must come from the private sector, with grants for so-called “smart growth” projects also probably playing a role.


The end of redevelopment was a blow to plans for Grantville, but Schoenfisch said a 21-member task force of community leaders ardently finished the plan this year so development can happen when the private sector is ready.

City Councilman Scott Sherman, whose district includes Grantville, praised the effort and said city officials have been pushing for community plan updates all over San Diego for similar reasons.

He said the business community wants updated plans so they know what infrastructure and amenities are envisioned for an area before they invest there.

Schoenfisch said developers attended many of the task force meetings, creating optimism regarding private sector interest in Grantville.


Dan Smith, a longtime property owner in the neighborhood, said the plan has created some buzz.

“Grantville has been left off the map for decades so it’s exciting to be on the map and to be talked about,” Smith said. “We have a $5 billion opportunity to build a little community next to the river and the trolley station.”

Anthony Wagner, president of the Allied Gardens Community Council, said residents in his neighborhood have some concerns about additional traffic from a redeveloped Grantville. But he said they also view the area as the most sensible place to add density because all the nearby communities are already built out.

“We need to adequately prepare for 2050,” he said. “So of course it makes sense to build high density around the trolley station.”


Wagner also said it makes more sense to embrace such projects than dismiss them.

“Morena and Carmel Valley are just saying ‘no,’ but you can shape these new beginnings in your community’s image,” he said.

Schoenfisch said an analysis of how the proposal would affect traffic, noise and other things, which is called an environmental impact report, should be complete this fall. He said the City Council could vote on the plan some time early next year.

david.garrick@utsandiego.com (619) 269-8906 @UTDavidGarrick