Flora & Fauna

Flora + Fauna is a pair of under construction six-story apartment buildings in south-central Bankers Hill. Straddling Ivy Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, and containing 66 units on the northern lot and 119 on the southern, the development sports a mixture of studio, one bedroom, and two bedroom floorplans. It is another one of many new projects in San Diego that falls under the Complete Communities Housing Solutions program.

Developed by Dana Point-based Raintree Partners, and designed by BDE Architecture of San Diego, San Francisco and Chicago, Flora + Fauna takes the space of a one-story commercial building last occupied by a law firm, as well as two small surface parking lots, and replaces them with always much-needed new rental housing supply in the rapidly densifying neighborhood that is Bankers Hill.

However, unlike most new Bankers Hill housing developments that tower 10-20 stories in the sky to the north, Flora + Fauna follows in the footsteps of nearby south-of-Laurel neighbors Asano and TRU by being shorter, on account of sitting just one block north of San Diego International Airport (SAN)’s most common landing path. As such, it sits within the Airport Land Use Compatibility Overlay Zone, which requires the development to demonstrate “noise compatibility” to ensure indoor spaces achieve a safe level of noise in the face of airplanes consistently landing at SAN (and in rare cases taking off). The ALUCOZ also mandates the amount of density allowed on the site for “safety compatibility” as well.

The two five-over-ones of Flora + Fauna are designed to mirror each other on either side of Ivy Street. Their interplay across Ivy, along with new ground floor retail space, completely recontextualizes this formerly quiet street corner. The wraps of wood cladding and stone-toned blades pop out in the renderings, and help give the development a more unique identity, referred to as a “biophilic design” by Yield PRO magazine - in reference to the two blocks away Balboa Park.

Flora + Fauna is described as having an amenity deck on the third floor with a pool, although it is unclear if this applies to one or both buildings at this time.

Construction began in July 2024 with general contracting by W.E. O’Neil Construction, who quotes on their website a planned construction time of 29 months. This extrapolates to an assumed completion date of, at best, very late 2026 if not early 2027. The project utilizes a two-to-three-floor concrete parking podium, with the remaining upper levels being stick-built Type III construction. Below is a picture of the site taken by BuildSD staff as of September 2025.

SOURCES:

https://raintreepartners.com/property/flora-fauna/

https://www.weoneil.com/project/flora-fauna/

https://www.bdearch.com/flora-and-fauna

https://yieldpro.com/2025/05/san-diego-housing-market/

https://docs.sandiego.gov/municode/MuniCodeChapter13/Ch13Art02Division15.pdf

https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2022/7/W18b/w18b-7-2022-exhibits.pdf