A 19-story office tower in Little Italy that sat nearly 60% empty is headed for a dramatic second act: 184 apartments reserved for low-income households. An affiliate of Vintage Housing bought the building at 610 W. Ash St. for $26 million on Sept. 28, and the developer now hopes to turn the former office space into affordable housing by summer 2029.
The purchase price and vacancy figures come from county property records cited by NBC 7 San Diego, which reported that the building changed hands in September. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the tower was more nearly 60% vacant at the time of the transaction, and Vintage Housing is now pursuing a $104.2 million conversion it hopes to wrap up by summer 2029. The paper's reporting also notes the building had recently gone through foreclosure before the sale. Multi-Housing News similarly confirmed that the office tower changed hands for $26 million.
The proposed 184 units would be deed-restricted for households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income, the Union-Tribune's report states. The mix calls for 34 studio units, 104 one-bedroom units and 46 two-bedroom units. To help pay for the work, Vintage Housing has applied for $26.9 million in new tax-exempt bonds, $25 million in recycled tax-exempt bonds, and $4.6 million in annual federal low-income housing tax credits, per the same account.
Why a Half-Empty Tower Is Worth the Gamble
Richard Gonor, a managing director with Jones Lang LaSalle who leases and sells downtown office properties, told NBC 7 that downtown San Diego still offers amenities, walkability and restaurants that make it attractive even as office vacancies climb. He said the conversion would offer another price point in a high-demand area where the office market is beginning to show signs of life. Gonor also told the Union-Tribune that removing a struggling building from the office inventory amounts to “a culling of inventory that would have otherwise struggled and continued to prolong the downturn of the vacancy market.”
That struggle is citywide. A report cited by 10News put San Diego's overall office vacancy rate at 13.9%, with downtown running far higher at about 25%. The same report, drawing on JLL's latest market data, said leasing activity remains below historical averages even as conditions begin to stabilize. Gonor struck a similarly cautious tone in comments to the San Diego Business Journal, calling the recovery “the very early innings” of a process he expects to play out over several years.
Not every corner of downtown is struggling equally, Gonor told the Union-Tribune. He said buildings on the west side, along the Broadway and Columbia corridor, are actually starting to raise rents, while older buildings along B Street are having a harder time competing for tenants. Conversion projects across downtown are in different phases, he added, not all of them advancing at the same pace.
A Tower With History, and a Business Owner Betting on Foot Traffic
Andres Mejia, who works at Patrini's on the first floor of the 610 W. Ash tower, told NBC 7 that new residents upstairs could bring more business and customers to the ground floor. Alan Kholos, who worked in the building roughly 20 years ago, also spoke with the outlet about the tower's long history in the neighborhood. Vintage Housing, which according to its own website develops income- and age-restricted properties benefiting low-income families and seniors, has not yet converted any projects to completion, and NBC 7 said it had reached out to the developer for comment and was still waiting to hear back.
How It Fits a Broader Downtown Trend
The Ash Street tower joins a growing list of downtown buildings caught up in office-to-residential conversion efforts, including Tower 180, 530 B St., 101 Ash St. and 707 Broadway, according to the Union-Tribune. Vintage Housing's 707 Broadway project, located more than a mile from 610 W. Ash, is already under construction and is planned to deliver 200 low-income units; the Union-Tribune reported construction underway with completion expected by August 2027, while Multi-Housing News described the same 200-unit project with a 2028 completion estimate.
The 101 Ash St. project has also evolved on paper. A 2025 Union-Tribune report described the plan as 247 units deed-restricted for families earning 30% to 80% of area median income, while a more recent KPBS account put the affordable count at 249 units for individuals and families in that same income band, plus three on-site manager units. KPBS reported the city amended that deal to extend the ground lease from 60 to 65 years, raise the total unit count from 250 to 252, and increase the developer's interest rate from 4% simple to 5% compound. The 101 Ash plan also includes 138 parking spaces, 25,000 square feet of retail space and a 4,000-square-foot childcare facility, per the outlet's reporting.
San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn told KPBS that office-to-residential conversions are extremely complicated and difficult to finance, requiring major structural and plumbing work that standard office buildings were never designed for. That complexity helps explain why, even as more towers get added to downtown's conversion list, the city's growing need for affordable housing is being met one slow, expensive project at a time.
