Across Genesee From UTC's New Wing, Costa Verde Is Finally Coming Down
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
On the weekend of October 24 and 25, Westfield UTC threw an opening party for its new north-side wing facing La Jolla Village Drive. It ran from 1 to 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, with complimentary drinks, desserts, gifts and photo spots. Across Genesee Avenue, the San Diego Union-Tribune had described the shuttered Costa Verde Center a month earlier as being "reduced to rubble."
These two properties sit across from each other, but they are years apart on the calendar. The finished side now sells Bulgari and Hermès. The unfinished side is where the developer plans a grocer, cafes and shops within walking distance, and construction there is set to begin in 2028. So for anyone who lives within walking distance, this holiday season adds plenty of new places for a special occasion and nothing new for a weeknight grocery run.
The new wing's lineup, as FOX 5 San Diego reported it on October 20, reads like a high-end shopping street: Bulgari, Tom Ford, Loro Piana and Zegna. Hermès moved into a revamped space near Din Tai Fung and Michael Kors. Chanel opened a clothing store, which joins its existing fragrance and beauty boutique near La Colombe.
The restaurants came first and opened over the summer:
That makes a good evening out. It also explains why the north side of the mall now feels like a place you plan a trip to. The property across Genesee was always meant for quick errands.
Costa Verde Center was built in 1989. Times of San Diego notes that it sits at the transit center of the UC San Diego Blue Line and "stood vacant and abandoned for years." That vacancy started at almost the same moment the trolley arrived. Here is how the site got from strip mall to demolition:
| When | What happened at Costa Verde |
|---|---|
| 1989 | Center is built across from Westfield UTC |
| November 21, 2021 | Mid-Coast Blue Line extension opens to the area |
| January 2022 | Alexandria buys the property |
| March 2022 | Existing tenants are expected to move out by March 15 |
| August 2024 | Center is closed and fenced; only the McDonald's and Chevron on Nobel Drive remain open |
| January 2025 | Cass Street Venture and London-based Global Mutual buy the site |
| September 2026 | Project is renamed High Street Village as demolition continues |
| 2028 | Construction set to begin |
Bristol Farms was the center's anchor, according to the Union-Tribune's August 2024 report. A 2019 tenant schedule from the previous owner also lists Bookstar and The Boxing Club among its major tenants. All of those were places you'd stop by on an ordinary weekday. When they closed, this end of University City lost its grocery store a few months after gaining a trolley station.
Times of San Diego also reports that two earlier plans to redevelop the property fell through before the current owners bought it. Even the size of the site varies by outlet. Times of San Diego says 12.6 acres, while the Union-Tribune's 2024 report said 13.9.
Cass Street Venture co-presidents Luke Daniels and Michael Yanicelli call the project High Street Village. The Union-Tribune described the vision as a European-style retail street lined with stores, cafes, boutique wellness offerings and a small market. Since buying the site, the developers have secured a change in land-use restrictions and gotten their final map approved for a 13-block plan.
Daniels described the plan to Times of San Diego in an email:
"High Street will connect to a central piazza near the trolley, with approximately 100,000 square feet of contemplated neighborhood-serving retail, including cafés, a grocer and shops residents and neighbors can reach on foot."
The retail is "contemplated," and no grocer has been named. In the same email, Daniels said the final number of affordable homes and parking spaces "will be determined as the project advances." The schedule so far includes a construction start and no opening date.
The community has told the developers what it wants from the site. University Community Planning Group chair Chris Nielsen told Times of San Diego that residents especially liked the grocery and pharmacy stores included in the project, and want to know more about affordable housing and traffic plans. He also pointed to a landscaping detail that came from community input. The site will have native plantings, "not palm trees that dump seeds into the canyon and create an environmental mess." Nielsen called it "the first plan we have seen in quite a while that really does take advantage of the area and adjacency to transit," and the first to include housing.
Daniels and Yanicelli presented an update and took public questions at the planning group's October 13 meeting. The meeting was informational, and no decision was scheduled. University City News has posted the recording, and the presentation starts about ten minutes in. If you live near the site, that recording is the most direct account of the plan available.
This season, everything seasonal at this intersection happens on the Westfield side:
Across the street, the only seasonal change is the demolition going on behind the fence.
The 2028 start date leaves time for the street network around the site to change first. Two citywide plans are open for public comment this month, and both affect how people will get to a piazza by the trolley on foot or by bike:
The Streets for All survey closes first, on November 13. The bike plan comment window runs through the end of November, so it will still be open while Peppermint Beach Club is going on across the street. Nielsen told Times of San Diego that traffic plans are among the things residents still want to learn more about. These two plans will decide the streets that High Street Village opens onto.
If you own a home within walking distance of Genesee and La Jolla Village Drive, this corner affects your property in two ways. One side just finished, and the other has a 2028 construction start and a grocer that's still only "contemplated." The Chris Love Team can walk you through what we see around projects like this and where your property sits in that picture. Request a personalized home valuation, and we'll start with your block.
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