University Avenue in Hillcrest, where the city broke ground Nov. 10 on Hillcrest Hall at 1601 University Avenue. Photo: RightCowLeftCoast, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Mayor Todd Gloria and city officials marked a groundbreaking on Nov. 10 for Hillcrest Hall, a 97-home affordable apartment building at 1601 University Avenue, near Pride Plaza and a short walk from UC San Diego Health’s Hillcrest Medical Center. Inside San Diego reported that day that the one-, two- and three-bedroom homes will be reserved for households earning 30 percent to 70 percent of area median income, which at current limits is $52,450 to $122,450 a year for a four-person household. Fifteen of the homes will be set aside for households below 40 percent of AMI, or $69,950 or less for a family of four, the report said. There will also be one unrestricted manager’s unit. Construction started in August 2026 and is expected to finish by December 2027.
Gloria said his administration “expedited the permitting process” and “provided $3.1 million to close the financing gap,” according to Inside San Diego. The site described that money as coming through the city’s Bridge to Home program, which the story said has helped advance 2,960 affordable homes across 30 projects since 2021. District 3 Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, who represents Hillcrest, called the building “an important step toward creating more affordable housing in San Diego.” The developer is CRP Affordable Housing & Community Development. LifeSTEPS, formally Life Skills Training and Education Programs, Inc., will offer health care, social services, financial literacy classes and recreation on site, the report said.
Plans for the building include a community room, computer room, picnic area, playground, private balconies, a rooftop patio, a transit information kiosk and a bicycle repair station with locked bike storage. Inside San Diego said the project went through Affordable Housing Permit Now, a 2023 executive-order program that asks the Development Services Department to review 100 percent affordable housing and shelter projects in 30 days or fewer. Development Services Director Elyse Lowe said the program has produced “average review cycle times of only nine days” and that it has helped permit more than 5,600 homes citywide, with about 3,000 more in process.
Earlier city bond-hearing notices for the same address described a 98-unit project, 97 of them rent-restricted, plus a manager’s unit, which matches the mix reported at the groundbreaking. Those notices also described tax-exempt and taxable bond financing that is separate from the $3.1 million city gap funding Gloria cited. Units will be subject to the income limits in effect when residents move in, Inside San Diego noted, because AMI is adjusted each year.
