San Diego’s housing shortage routinely ranks among residents’ top concerns, and disputes over specific projects routinely rank among the region’s biggest policy fights.
Here are six housing projects that could deliver a significant impact this year, either because the project’s are so big on their own or because of the precedent they could set.
Golden Hill’s test of “Complete Communities”
“The Lawson,” an eight-story, 186 unit development, shook neighborhood groups in Golden Hill into organized opposition in 2025.
Those groups won a rare and seemingly major victory in October, when their lawsuit over the project convinced Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil to issue a restraining order halting construction.
The judge last month declined to extend the work order, after he determined the group does not have “a probability of prevailing” at trial.
Still, the outcome of that trial will determine more than whether one Golden Hill project goes forward.
It achieved its height and density through the city’s “Complete Communities” program, which lets developers surpass development restrictions in exchange for certain benefits and concessions.
But to qualify for the program, a project needs to be near an existing or planned high-frequency transit stop. The Lawson is near a bus stop expected to become a high-frequency station, an upgrade for which there is no dedicated funding. That distinction is at the heart of the lawsuit. Can a planned station count, if the planning does not include relatively certain funding?
If residents prevail, they’ll make a big a change to the controversial Complete Communities program.
Is this the year for Midway Rising?
In October, a court determined the 2022 ballot measure that erased the coastal height limit for the Midway neighborhood was illegal. That ballot measure had been explicitly pitched as essential to redeveloping the Sports Arena area into an urban district with a new arena. The California Supreme Court recently affirmed the ruling.
But Midway Rising’s developers quickly argued the ruling did not matter . They’re prepared to use a state law — one local lawmakers had a heavy hand in shaping — to build their project.
The City Council is expected to vote on the project — including the developers’ interpretation of state law — early this year. But that won’t be the last big city decision that could come in 2026.
Midway Rising’s developers have until the end of Dec. 2026 to negotiate a long-term lease with the city for the sports arena property. The council will also have to approve that deal, once the developers and the city finish their negotiations.
But the most interesting decision ahead could be the creation of an “enhanced infrastructure financing district” for the project. The new district would subsidize the cost of Midway Rising by using new property tax revenue created by the project for roads, sidewalks and other public facilities.
Midway Rising isn’t the only big regional project counting on using an enhanced infrastructure financing district. It’s basically a scaled down version of the old “redevelopment program” the state killed in 2011.
San Diego Unified: Megadeveloper
Early this year, the San Diego Unified School District could greenlight enough workforce housing to double the number of homes built by school districts across the entire state since 2002.
The district’s project includes up to 1,500 units for district employees across nearly 14 acres in University Heights. It’s as significant as any in the proposal in the city’s urban core in years.
School board leaders surprisingly delayed their decision last month, but largely whittled the choice to two competing proposals. One offers fewer units (952) but with steeper rent discounts. The other offers more units (1,500), but targets its rent specifically to what’s affordable for typical district employees.
The decision has forced the district to grapple not just with its own budget needs, but questions over the best way to deliver affordability for employees, what it means to build a great city and how much weight to put in neighborhood feedback.
We could know where it lands on those questions early this year.
A new local fight over a different state law
San Diego has played a starring role in Sacramento’s push to give the state more authority over local housing decisions. But the city is now in a familiar feud over that state effort.
Pacific Beach residents have been fired up over the proposal to build a 23-story tower on Turquoise Street since developers proposed it in 2024 with the help of a loophole in state law.
But now, the developer Kalonymus is arguing that the project must be considered “automatically approved.” It says the city’s failed to meet a deadline prescribed in a different state law meant to ensure speedy project review.
City planners say that’s the developer’s fault. They say Kalonymus has submitted incomplete or incorrect plans that the city had to fix and send back. And the developer has changed the project each time it resubmitted, contributing to the delay.
We’ll see if Kalonymus can push its interpretation through this year, but it’s the sort of disagreement that seems destined for court.
Once more unto the breach: Civic Center redevelopment
The Prebys Foundation and Downtown Partnership in May unveiled their vision for a new heart of downtown at the blighted six-block Civic Center.
But the redevelopment plan is still in its earliest stages and no clear path beyond renderings. The city needs to figure out where to put city hall, which is currently jamming up any attempt to get the project moving.
City and downtown leaders in October started a year-long event series called Plaza Central at the Civic Center. They hoped it would kickstart the project by reinvigorating the depressed space.
Mayor Todd Gloria asked developers for proposals to rebuild it in 2022 and received no responses. Talking about redeveloping the Civic Center is much more common than signing deals to do it.
This year, Civic Center optimists might settle for any sign of progress. The first phase of the new vision is tearing down Golden Hall and replacing it with a cultural center. City hall’s top relocation options seem to be the nearby Wells Fargo building, or the foreclosed Campus at Horton across the street.
Maybe there’s some movement on either piece this year. Meanwhile, the state of economic development in downtown San Diego is making national news for all the wrong reasons.
Hence then, the article about 5 big housing development fights to watch in 2026 was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( 5 big housing development fights to watch in 2026 )
Also on site :
- Aura AI Assistant for Unreal Engine Launches: VR Studio Ships Game in Half the Time with New Agent Capabilities
- Man accused of placing pipe bombs near GOP and Democratic headquarters in Washington to remain in jail pending trial
- Driver dies after plow truck goes off the road in Steuben County