CHULA VISTA, CA—Sudberry Properties and Ayres Hotels have broken ground on Millenia Commons lifestyle center and a 135-room boutique hotel, respectively, bringing Millenia closer to becoming the city center of South San Diego County.

Sudberry's Millenia Commons, a 131,800-square-foot lifestyle destination center, is the primary retail component of the 210-acre, multi-billion-dollar Millenia master-planned community, which is designed to be the urban epicenter of South San Diego County. The 12.5-acre lifestyle center is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Millenia Commons, which will extend on both sides of Millenia Ave. on two separate parcels, will feature contemporary urban design with an emphasis on walkability and outdoor gathering spaces to create a strong sense of place, according to Sudberry. The center will reflect “the modern urban style of the overall Millenia master plan.”

Preleasing efforts for Millenia Commons by Flocke & Avoyer have resulted in leases with HomeGoods, Cost Plus World Market, Ross Dress for Less, buybuy Baby, Mattress Firm, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Papagayos Grill & Cantina, Menchie's Frozen Yogurt, Great Clips, Jamba Juice, McDonald's and Pacific Dental Services.

Meanwhile, the Ayres Hotel, which is scheduled to open in approximately a year, is the hotel company's second property in San Diego County and 22^nd hotel in Southern and Central California. Amenities will include urban-edge design and décor, coupled with full bars in the lobby and the outdoor courtyard, a state-of-the-art fitness center, three conference rooms and a boardroom.

The hotel will be located 2.5 miles from the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center (formerly the Olympic Training Center), and the lobby will feature a projection celebrating unforgettable Olympic moments. Bruce D'Eliscu, principal of Ayres Hotels, tells GlobeSt.com that the target clientele for the new property “is our typical business travelers, local community and visitors of the training center.”

Retail and hotel are but two of the elements being developed at Millenia. As GlobeSt.com reported in April 2016, with the advent of Millenia Office and its proximity to the cross-border airport, the Eastern Chula Vista submarket is poised to be the game-changer for global companies in the San Diego region, Chesnut Properties principal Lee Chesnut told GlobeSt.com. His firm purchased the seven-acre first phase of Millenia Office here, with an option to purchase the balance of the 28-acre site, The corporate/office component of Millenia, Millenia Office has entitlements for 2 million square feet of class-A corporate and office space.

What will be unique about Millenia Office is the “convergence of major global demographics,” Chesnut told GlobeSt.com exclusively. “It's not just the one thing that I'm building, but it's also the huge economic region that exists between the US, San Diego and Mexico just south of the border.”

In addition, as we reported in September 2016, Meridian Development opened Millenia's first for-sale residential neighborhoods—Evo, Trio and Metro—which resulted in an immediate sell-out and a campout by 17 families. The neighborhoods are located across the street from Otay Ranch Town Center, which was completed shortly before the residential development, Meridian's president Guy Asaro told GlobeSt.com. Asaro is managing development of Millenia for the property owner Stratford Land. Residential developers on the property include Trammell Crow Residential, Fairfield Residential, Shea Homes San Diego and Meridian Communities.

Along with the slated office space, Millennia is planned for 3,000 multifamily residences, 1.5 million square feet of retail, hospitality, city and mixed-use projects and six urban parks, woven together with a system of tree-lined promenades, bikeways and plazas.

Instant Insights /

Two More Elements for So. County's Urban Hot Spot

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