San Diego State University is planning a seven-story, 250-unit senior living community along Jacaranda Street and Innovation Parkway on its Mission Valley campus, with 224 independent and assisted living residences alongside 26 units reserved for memory care. The 295,000-square-foot building will include a pool, a restaurant and bistro, a rooftop deck and a fitness center. Construction is set to begin in late 2027, with the project expected to wrap up in 2030.
The plans were first detailed by reporter Gary Robbins of The San Diego Union-Tribune, which reported that the California State University Board of Trustees approved the project in July 2026. SDSU is partnering with developers PMB and Pillar Properties, along with operator Merrill Gardens, to build and run the complex.
University leaders are framing the project as more than just another apartment building. "The vision for this project is rooted in SDSU's commitment to service our intergenerational SDSU community," SDSU President Adela de la Torre told The San Diego Union-Tribune. Residents will get access to continuing learning opportunities, including programming through SDSU's Center for Excellence in Aging and Longevity, and the university plans to place students in internships and jobs through its partnership with Merrill Gardens.
A Leasing Office by 2028, First Residents by 2030
A leasing office for the community is expected to open in fall 2028, ahead of the first resident move-ins in 2030, according to SDSU NewsCenter. Urbal Architecture is designing the building, which is targeting LEED Gold sustainability certification.
One Piece of a Much Bigger Mission Valley Build-Out
The senior complex is a small slice of what's coming to the 169-acre Mission Valley site. SDSU's master plan documents envision up to 4,600 residential units, 1.6 million square feet of academic and innovation space, 95,000 square feet of retail, two hotels and more than 80 acres of open space across the full buildout. SDSU is also building 747 units of housing near the senior project and expects to partner with the San Diego Community College District on a planned five-story, joint-use STEM education center on the site.
Other residential pieces are already underway nearby, per the same SDSU announcement. Addison, a 126-unit affordable housing project, broke ground in May 2024, and AvalonBay Communities started its first market-rate residential building on the campus in August 2025. More than half of the 169-acre site is set aside for parks and open space, anchored by the 34-acre San Diego River Park and its four miles of pedestrian and bicycle trails, per the same master plan documents.
From Qualcomm Stadium's Parking Lot to a Campus Village
The senior living project traces back to a 2018 ballot measure. San Diego voters approved the SDSU West measure that November, and then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer signed off on the city's $86.2 million sale of the 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium property to SDSU in August 2020, according to the Snapdragon Stadium Timeline. That acquisition cleared the way for SDSU to demolish the old stadium and build out the campus. The $310 million, 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium opened in September 2022 as the master plan's first anchor project, according to venue records, and now hosts SDSU football, San Diego FC, San Diego Wave FC and concerts.
Betting on a Wave of Aging Baby Boomers
The timing lines up with a demographic shift already underway across the region. San Diego County's population of adults 65 and older is projected to grow by 238,000 people over six years, reaching 21% of the total population by 2030, according to the San Diego Seniors Community Foundation. SDSU's project fits a growing national category known as University-Based Retirement Communities, which architecture firm SmithGroup describes, per Building Design + Construction, as catering to highly educated Baby Boomers who want lifelong learning, intergenerational engagement and access to campus culture and athletics.
SDSU isn't fronting the construction costs itself. The university's Mission Valley strategy relies on long-term ground leases that shift financial and operational risk to private developers who fund, build and operate non-academic facilities, as Voice of San Diego has reported. SDSU currently enrolls more than 43,000 students, and de la Torre has said the university will exceed its goal of pushing enrollment past 50,000, with the fall semester set to begin Aug. 24.
Pricing for the senior units, the project's full financing structure and how transit connectivity will serve an aging resident population are details SDSU has not yet spelled out.
