Father Joe’s Redeveloping Skydiving Center to Apts.
REAL ESTATE: $115M Project Adds 176 Units to East Village
BY RAY HUARD
SAN DIEGO – Father Joe’s Villages has been selected by San Diego city officials to redevelop the former Skydiving Center in East Village into a $115 million affordable housing tower.
The center at 1401 Imperial Ave. has been used as a Homeless Response Center after the Skydiving Center closed in 2017.
“It’s going to be an adaptive reuse project where we use what’s there now.” said Deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages.
“It would be extremely expensive to tear it down. It was built extremely well,” Vargas said.
The site is adjacent to St. Teresa de Calcutta Villa, a $148 million affordable apartment tower with 407 apartments that opened in January 2022, near the headquarters of Father Joe’s Villages.
St. Teresa is Father Joe’s largest project to date, and one that Vargas said will likely not be duplicated.
“I don’t know that we’ll ever get to the scale of St. Teresa of Calcutta,” Vargas said.
Pipeline of Projects
The Skydiving Center property will be converted into a 15-story tower with 176 apartments in a mix of studio and one-bedroom units ranging from 350 square feet to 600 square feet.
The existing building will serve as the base of the redevelopment project, with the new apartments built above it, Vargas said.
“Over the years, this property has been evaluated for many different purposes,” Vargas said adding that the building “will soon become the future home to hundreds of San Diegans at risk or experiencing homelessness.”
“By repurposing the existing site, while employing high-performance building materials, we can scale the building to 15 floors with 176 units of 100% affordable housing,” Vargas said.
“In addition to affordable housing, future residents will have access to wrap-around services that Father Joe’s Village offers, such as physical and behavioral health, social supports and employment services which will help residents attain self-sufficiency and success.”
Vargas said that about half the apartments will be earmarked for people with mental or physical challenges or who have had substance abuse issues.
“It will be a nice cross section of those we serve in general,” Vargas said.
The goal is to start construction in September 2026 after Father Joe’s signs a formal agreement with the city and identifies funding sources, with completion expected in 2028.
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