There’s change on the horizon yet again this year for Chula Vista, one of the county’s fastest-growing cities.
The city issued permits for more than 1,600 new residential housing units last year. And in 2025, even more new townhomes, apartments and single-family units could come online on both the east and west sides of the city.
Chula Vista’s expansion was fueled by eastward growth over the past four decades, particularly after the housing boom in the 1980s. It now is home to more than 270,000 residents.
Here’s Chula Vista housing news to watch in 2025.
More homes coming to east Chula
Côta Vera, HomeFed Corp.’s nearly 900-acre residential development in Otay Ranch, may be debuting parts of its site this year.
Located about 18 miles southeast of downtown San Diego, this new community is made up of a west and east village. Côta Vera West is the first phase of this new community, and Côta Vera East is in the early planning stages.
A portion of the development called “The Residences at Côta Vera” opened in 2022, offering studios to three-bedroom homes. Ultimately, the development will total more than 4,800 units, with half available for rent and the other half for sale.
Côta Vera is designed to feature a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use town center with businesses and recreation, as well as an urban park.
Fewer than 3 miles east across State Route 125, developer Ryan Companies began construction on Axia Way and Millenia Avenue to build 278 multifamily residential units.
Dubbed “Millenia Lot 19,” this project marks Ryan Companies’ second multifamily project in Chula Vista. It also built The Avalyn community in Millenia in 2022, according to the company’s website.
Early stages of the nearby Otay Ranch Town Center conversion are underway, as well.
In December, the Chula Vista City Council approved rezoning commercial space at the center to make room for up to 840 multifamily units — 10% of which will be set aside for affordable housing.
Located in the northwest section of the shopping center, the project will be built over 15 years, according to a city staff report. The first phase requires the developer Brookfield Property Partners to build at least 100 units within the first seven years, the report states.
The developer is required to provide up to roughly 7 “usable acres of developed parkland” if the project reaches the unit cap.
City staff estimate the additional housing at the Otay Ranch center will generate $38 million over the first two decades.
Also planned east of Interstate 805: the Nakano project, which would build more than 200 condos, duplexes and townhomes — 10% of which would also be deemed affordable — on what is currently zoned as agricultural land.
Councilmembers approved the project last month. But the site — east of I-805 and south of the Otay River — is expected to be annexed to the city of San Diego to allow for easier access to the property. Currently, the “only feasible primary access” to the site is from San Diego’s Dennery Road, according to a staff report.
On Dec. 19, the San Diego Planning Commission also voted to support the project, sending it to its own City Council for a vote.
New housing in West Chula
The real estate firm Pacifica Companies is in the planning stages of a “residential, hotel and commercial development” on a city of Chula Vista-owned parcel near the marinas, according to the Port of San Diego.
The finished project could include 1,500 condos, with the first phase constructing 200 units. The firm broke ground in June on a portion of its development: Amara Bay, a 35-acre project one block from the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center site.
The Amara Bay project will include 400,000 square feet of commercial and office space, a 250-room hotel and seven towers with 1,500 condos.
At the southeast corner of H Street and Fifth Avenue adjacent to the Chula Vista Center mall, 244 new townhomes at two and three stories high will be for sale this year.
Known as Citrus Bay, the nearly 13-acre site will be located on the mall’s former Sears property. It will also have a half-acre park, according to city records.
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News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
