St. Sarkis Armenian Church in San Diego's Carmel Valley has launched a fundraising campaign for a new Armenian Community Center, with organizers hoping to break ground this fall on a facility that would eventually host up to 350 guests, complete with a rooftop deck, a dance floor and a commercial-grade kitchen. The construction phase now underway is expected to cost $4.6 million, part of a larger $9 million project once the center is fully completed.
The campaign, dubbed “Bridge to the Future,” is described in a project website as already live with information for the public, according to a news release cited by The San Diego Union-Tribune. Organizers say the initial construction phase has already secured more than half of its estimated cost through a combination of pledges and financing, a sign of momentum as the church pushes toward a fall groundbreaking. Jim Sahagian, chair of the fundraising committee, said the effort is about more than bricks and mortar.
“The campaign will strengthen and unite the San Diego Armenian community, especially its youth,” Sahagian said, per the newspaper's report. That framing lines up with how the construction phase itself is being described: as a project centered on youth development and cultural gatherings, rather than simply expanding square footage.
What the New Center Will Include
Once finished, the Armenian Community Center will serve as a hub for spiritual, cultural and educational activities for the San Diego Armenian community and beyond, according to the Union-Tribune's report. Planned amenities include a large stage, two outdoor patios, state-of-the-art audiovisual capabilities, classroom space for Armenian language and Sunday school programs, and multi-use spaces intended for broader community use.
The center is one piece of the larger 18-acre Heritage Pointe campus, which sits in Carmel Valley near Del Mar alongside a coastal wildlife preserve. Heritage Pointe is also slated to include an education center and library, an outdoor memorial plaza, and a youth center and gymnasium, the same report notes. A separate assisted living facility planned for the campus is expected to break ground in January 2027.
A Campus Two Decades in the Making
The Carmel Valley campus traces back to 2008, when the church's Trust Fund Committee purchased an initial 14 acres, later expanded by an additional four-acre donation, according to St. Sarkis Armenian Church's own building committee history. Getting to this point required years of regulatory clearance: the San Diego City Planning Commission granted a Conditional Use Permit in October 2014, the California Coastal Commission approved construction in January 2016, and the campus broke ground in April 2018, according to a report from HyeTert.
The church's sanctuary itself was consecrated in a three-day ceremony from January 28 to 30, 2022, presided over by Western Diocese Primate Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, as reported by Panorama.am. Before the move to Carmel Valley, the congregation worshipped as St. John Garabed Armenian Church in central San Diego, a parish that was formally established in 1973 and consecrated in 1981, according to the church's own historical account. St. Sarkis operates under the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of North America, headquartered in Burbank and established in 1927, with parish priest Very Rev. Fr. Pakrad Dz. V. Berjekian also serving as the diocese's Vicar General.
Years of Fundraising Behind the Push
The current campaign builds on a track record of prior fundraising drives under the same “Bridge to the Future” name. A 2019 gala raised more than $2 million, and a November 2024 gala at the Westin Carlsbad Resort brought in $200,000 specifically earmarked for what organizers call Phase 2 development, according to Western Diocese News. The next fundraiser, the Bridge to the Future Gala Esperanza, is scheduled for October 24 at the Cape Rey Hilton in Carlsbad and will support the community center building campaign directly.
The project reflects the scale of Armenian community life across Southern California. California is home to the largest Armenian American population in the country, with Census Bureau estimates putting the statewide total near 250,000 residents. San Diego County's own Armenian ancestry population is smaller by comparison, with Census Bureau demographic data identifying more than 2,200 residents of Armenian ancestry locally, part of a broader regional Middle Eastern and North African population numbering in the tens of thousands, according to County of San Diego demographic data.
Those interested in the campaign can reach organizers at [email protected], per the church's published contact information. With the Conditional Use Permit and San Diego city permits already in hand for the community center, the parish's next major test will be whether pledges keep pace with the fall groundbreaking target, and how construction timelines for the community center and the separate senior living facility line up with ongoing environmental and coastal zoning considerations tied to the campus's location beside Gonzales Canyon.
