A $205 Million VA Hospital, a New Apartment Project, and a Reopened Park
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On July 14th, the federal government formally took ownership of the new VA Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders Hospital at the Jennifer Moreno VA Medical Center in San Diego. The facility is 200,000 square feet, cost $205 million to construct, and contains 50 beds — 20 of them designated for long-term care. The San Diego VA Healthcare System is targeting early 2027 for first patient admissions.
The patient population the facility is designed to serve spans roughly 850 veterans across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada who require specialized spinal cord injury care. Historically, that care has been concentrated in a small number of VA centers nationally, meaning many veterans in this region have had to travel for it. The new hospital represents a meaningful shift toward local access — proximity that carries significant practical weight for families managing long-term care.
On the multifamily development front, Zephyr broke ground on a 223-unit apartment redevelopment of the former Perry's Cafe site in Old Town, following a $9 million land acquisition, with delivery targeted for early 2028. The project is notable given a broader pullback in multifamily construction starts — county-wide, starts have dropped approximately 24 percent year over year — suggesting either unusual confidence in the Old Town location's transit-oriented demand or unusual access to capital.
The City of San Diego also completed a $6.6 million accessibility overhaul of Olive Grove Community Park in Clairemont — 9.2 acres — which reopened July 28th after construction delays. The upgrades expand usable access for families with mobility impairments, young children, and older residents who had effectively been excluded from portions of the park. San Diego's rental vacancy rate sits near a 15-year high of approximately 5.7 percent as a wave of new housing supply works through the market, providing broader context for the region's development activity.