FOUR-STORY APARTMENT BUILDING APPROVED FOR SITE IN CARLSBAD’S DOWNTOWN VILLAGE
A four-story building with 156 apartments has been approved for construction on a site occupied by a hotel and three single-family homes on the eastern side of Carlsbad’s downtown Village neighborhood.
The developer, Wermers Companies, built the adjacent Lofts apartments, a four-story, mixed-use building with 106 apartments and ground-floor retail that opened about a year ago at the corner of Carlsbad Village Drive and Interstate 5. The two buildings will share a driveway with access to both Grand Avenue and Carlsbad Village Drive.
The Carlsbad City Council unanimously approved a site map and development plan for the project Tuesday, and council members praised the company for working with the community. No one at the meeting opposed the project, and the city received a number of letters in support of it.
“It looks good,” said Mayor Keith Blackburn, adding that he likes the way the building is set back from
Carlsbad Village Drive so that it doesn’t make “a continuous wall” with The Lofts building.
“It doesn’t surprise me that we don’t have anybody here to speak out against the project,” Blackburn said.
Councilmember Teresa Acosta said it was the “best possible project” for the site, and thanked the developer for getting residents’ approval in a neighborhood where people are not always happy with the area’s increasing density.
Called the Hope Apartments, the new building will have a “modern coastal” style similar to that of The Lofts and will include 20 apartments reserved for very low-income households. In Carlsbad that is an annual income less than $62,000 for a family of three, or about $68,000 for a family of four, a city staffer said.
“It will enhance the community through providing high-quality housing that is environmentally friendly,” said Patrick Zabrocki, the project manager.
With studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom rental apartments, the building will have solar panels on the roof, electric vehicle charging stations for tenants and guests, LED lighting, lowflow water fixtures, and drought-tolerant landscaping. It is within walking distance of public transit, schools, shopping and recreational opportunities.
A gated, two-level subterranean parking garage beneath the building will provide 272 spaces, with five more spaces outside the building, according to the staff report. The parking provided will exceed the minimum of 78 spaces required by the state and 196 required by the city.
The 2.95-acre site consolidates five lots between Carlsbad Village Drive and Grand Avenue, just east of the Hope Avenue alley. The 109-room hotel called the Carlsbad Village Inn and single-family homes on the property will be demolished, but a Carl’s Jr. restaurant there will remain.
Along Carlsbad Village Drive the developer will widen the sidewalk to 10 feet. Along Grand Avenue the existing sidewalk will be replaced by a meandering, 6foot-wide sidewalk, a 4-footwide parkway with street trees and lighting.
The location is directly across Carlsbad Village Drive from the Carlsbad Village Plaza anchored by a Smart & Final grocery, where another San Diego developer has proposed a mixed-use project with 218 apartments and 13,800 square feet of shops and restaurants.
That project will include retail businesses in two single-story buildings facing Carlsbad Village Drive. The apartments, including 22 reserved for very low-income tenants, will be in two fivestory buildings behind the shops. The proposal is expected to go to the Carlsbad City Council for approval as soon as July 2024.
Wermers is a third-generation, San Diego-based, family-owned company founded in 1957. It buys, builds and maintains its residential properties.
It recently started construction on a 72-apartment building in Encinitas, just south of La Costa Avenue near North Coast Highway 101, and is a partner in a 329apartment complex going up at Palomar Airport Road and Aviara Parkway.