County officials and local leaders gathered Friday at the Spring Street transit station in La Mesa to break ground on Spring View Apartments, a 147-unit affordable housing development rising directly next to the San Diego Trolley line. The project will replace a park-and-ride lot with two six-story buildings, marking one of the more visible examples yet of San Diego County converting underused transit parking into housing.
The groundbreaking was announced by SD HHSA
on social media Friday evening, confirming the ceremony took place at the Spring Street station. According to
Times of San Diego
Times of San Diego , developer Affirmed Housing is building the $106 million project on a 3.61-acre site, adding housing near a trolley line.
State tax credit records detail exactly what will get built at 4250 Spring St.: two six-story buildings with 145 income-restricted rental units, split between 24 studios, 38 one-bedroom, 43 two-bedroom, and 42 three-bedroom apartments, plus two manager units, according to filings with the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. The units are reserved for households earning between 30% and 60% of the Area Median Income, a range meant to serve both single renters and larger families in one development.
How the $106 Million Project Gets Paid For
How the $106 Million Project Gets Paid For Financing for Spring View Apartments comes from a dense stack of public subsidies. In its December 10, 2025, staff report, the state tax-credit committee recommended reservations of $4,091,748 in annual federal tax credits and $19,669,705 in state tax credits, along with a $29,253,529 tax-exempt bond allocation. San Diego County had already contributed $2 million in local housing funds toward the project in January 2024, according to the Patch. The same filing lists 4 VASH vouchers and 36 HUD Section 8 project-based vouchers for the site.
The project was processed under Senate Bill 35, which barred discretionary hearings. Separately, California's Senate Bill 79, the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, took effect July 1, establishing statewide standards that allow higher-density multifamily housing within a quarter- to half-mile of qualifying transit stops, per the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Trolley Riders Lose Their Parking Lot for Two Years
The tradeoff for the new housing is a major disruption for daily commuters. MTS officials say construction will close the Spring Street station's transit parking lot for roughly two years starting September 14, leaving only limited ADA parking on site. The transit agency is redirecting daily riders to the Grossmont, Massachusetts Avenue, or 70th Street trolley stations in the meantime, according to the agency's own project page.
Affirmed Housing's 126-unit ShoreLINE development at Grantville Trolley Station was the first of three projects being built with MTS. The developer's 100-unit SkyLINE development at Rancho Bernardo Transit Station was completed earlier this year, as detailed by Affordable Housing Finance.
Converting Transit Parking Into Housing
Spring View is an example of converting transit parking into housing.
