AVA Pacific Beach
Pacific Beach // AvalonBay bets big on three parking lots in Pacific Beach
Maxwell Gergen, Writer & Advocacy Lead
Render of Building 3 from Jewell Street (AvalonBay Communities)
A new residential development in Pacific Beach has recently been permitted by the City of San Diego and is awaiting Coastal Development permits. AVA Pacific Beach is an existing 564 unit apartment complex on Ingraham Street, and this new development within the complex will deliver 178 more residential units upon completion.
Existing building at AVA Pacific Beach (Maxwell Gergen / BuildSD)
Originally built in 1969 with the name Oakwood Garden Apartments, AVA Pacific Beach is a sprawling garden apartment complex of its era, taking up several blocks along Ingraham Street and including several large parking lots. But as Pacific Beach became a larger and more dynamic neighborhood, housing demand spiked. AvalonBay Communities bought the complex in 1997 and renovated all units on the property. Further demand for housing in the area in recent years likely caused Avalon Bay to look to add infill housing to the complex.
Site Plan of 3 new buildings (AvalonBay Communities)
Due to several factors, this project took years to get permitted. The main factor was the requirement of a zoning change in order to increase density. Filed in June 2022, it took until the beginning of 2026 for approval of the zoning change from Medium-High Density Residential (29- 43 (du/ac) to High Density Residential (15-54 du/ac).
Image of AVA Pacific Beach entrance (Maxwell Gergen / BuildSD)
This has allowed AvalonBay Communities to add an additional 178 apartments. The majority of those 178 will be two-bedrooms, although there will also be one-bedrooms available. At the time the permits for AVA Pacific Beach were filed, they only were required to provide 4% affordable housing; they met this requirement with 7 units at 30-50% Area Median Income.
Design of Building 1 (AvalonBay Communities)
The three new buildings are different in size and shape, filling the existing parking lots on the complex site. Building 1 is the tallest of the three, reaching up to 40 feet at points despite the 30 foot height limit in the area. This is due to the 30 foot coastal height limit passed in 1972 measuring a building’s height from its top grade, and in this way Building 1 uses the slope it sits on to its advantage. Building 1 also contains an above grade parking garage, that the units wrap around.
Design of Building 1 (AvalonBay Communities)
Building 2 is entirely residential as it is by far the smallest lot. It also only has a single staircase due the compact size and only being 2 stories. It is similar in design to the original complex buildings from 1969.
Rendering of Building 2 (AvalonBay Communities)
Building 3 has a car centric composition, similar to Building 1. It also contains a parking garage, and will feature mostly two bedroom units as well.
Rendering of Building 3 (AvalonBay Communities)
Design-wise, the residential facades fit in well with the coastal community, with wood and metal architectural elements, and the majority of the building being white with select grey portions. The parking garages, however, are mostly concrete. The developer’s proposal is to cover some of the garage’s exterior walls with large murals to minimize these harsh faces.
Outdoor Fitness Area (AVA Pacific Beach)
The existing apartment complex already has many amenities, including a pool, outdoor area, volleyball court, indoor/outdoor fitness center, and their “chill space” club room. However, three major amenities will disappear as part of this development. Atop the largest parking lot, where Building One will be built, there are two tennis courts, two basketball courts, and the pet spa. The dog spa will be replaced with a new one—however, the tennis and basketball courts will not. All-new amenities will include two new courtyards with patios, simple amenities like seating, barbeques, and cabanas, as well as an expansion of the main courtyard around the pool. Building 2 includes a new lobby, and Building 3 includes a new bike storage room.
Building 1 pictured on the site of the tennis courts, basketball courts, and pet spa (AvalonBay Communities)
The complex was originally built when San Diego had strict parking requirements, however in the 57 years since the complex was built, San Diego’s parking requirements have since changed. The complex is partially in San Diego’s Transit Priority Area (TPA) which allows for elimination of the parking minimum altogether. There is no requirement for the new units to have parking spaces, but the existing units still have parking requirements from the spaces being taken away to support this project. Currently there are a total of 765 parking spaces for the 564 unit complex. After the rebuild the number will go to 756 total spaces for 702 apartments.
Building 1 design, largely consisting of a parking garage (AvalonBay Communities)
To get around the grandfathered-in parking requirements, AvalonBay had to check a few boxes. 65 of the parking spaces are for electric vehicles to lower emissions. There are 70 bike parking spaces, of which 35 have access to electrical outlets for charging e-bikes. There are also 15 parking spaces for motorcycles. While not everyone is going to live car free or share a car, this allows for more options and a better use of land that is limited in many ways.
For transportation in the area, there are several protected boardwalk walkways that allow for great walking paths along Mission Bay, as well as bike connections to the Rose Creek Bikeway.
MTS route 9 stops in front of AVA Pacific Beach and more frequent bus options are up the street on Grand Ave. There are many nearby parks as part of the greater Mission Bay Park, as well as many shopping and dining options on Garnet, the heart of Pacific Beach.
AVA Pacific Beach leasing office sign (Maxwell Gergen / BuildSD)
As part of the infill development, AvalonBay is also planning on renovating the existing units. This will modernize the community and make the theming and design closer to the new buildings. This will tie the development together and likely bring in high, more luxury rents with units that aren't dated to the 1990s.
While this development is not perfect, AVA Pacific Beach is a great example that infill is possible in many existing communities around San Diego, even if the road getting there may be difficult.
Further Reading
Further Renderings
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10/attachment-19-part-1-of-2.pdf
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10/attachment-19-part-2-of-2.pdf