March 28, 2024

Shopping center, offices and homes planned on La Costa Avenue

By Michael Burge Union-Tribune Staff Writer

CARLSBAD — A proposal to build a shopping center, office buildings and housing at a busy intersection in southeastern Carlsbad has drawn criticism from neighbors, who say the project is too large and needs to be scaled back.

A commercial complex has been proposed for the 83-acre site, at La Costa Avenue and Rancho Santa Fe Road, since the 1970s, but it was delayed over the years. Known as La Costa Town c, the project would consist of a 284,000-square-foot shopping center, two office buildings totaling 55,000 square feet and 64 single-family houses on the northeast corner. A 128-unit multifamily housing complex would be on the northwest corner.

A public hearing on the project will be held Tuesday.

“We don’t want a regional shopping center,” said Patricia Bleha of a group called North County Advocates, which opposes the project. “It doesn’t belong in a residential neighborhood.” The largest piece of the development puzzle is a 98,000-square-foot, two-story building that was originally planned for a Kohl’s department store. “Nobody here wants a big box, whether it’s a Walmart or anything else,” Bleha said. “If it’s sitting there empty and it’s built already, it could be anything, it could be a Walmart or anything.”

via Sign on San Diego Neighbors battle proposed project.