San Marcos recently approved a new 119-unit apartment complex on a piece of land that had been vacant for decades.
The roughly $35 million Capalina Apartments complex is expected to break ground in the fall and take about 18 months to build. It is the city's first new apartment project in more than four years.
Developer Jonathan Rilling said the project, in between Capalina and Mission roads, aims to take advantage of its proximity to the Palomar College Sprinter Station (a roughly 10-minute walk) and strong demographics — college students and working families.
"This is a prime residential location," he said Monday, "near job centers, educational hubs and transit."
For years, the 2.5-acre site had been zoned for commercial use, but Rilling led a push to change the zoning when a commercial developer never materialized.
Nathan Moeder, a San Diego housing analyst with London Moeder Advisors, said city planners of 20 to 30 years ago way overestimated the need for commercial retail in general plans, something his firm has worked with them to update. He said the retail focus made sense from a financial perspective because it produces sales tax for a city. However, Moeder said the reality is much of that space is sitting vacant.
"There is way too much land zoned for commercial retail," he said. "Cities are beginning to understand this and allowing for more mixed-use zoning or, in some cases, just 100 percent residential."
One of the more dramatic examples was in 2018 when the San Marcos City Council changed plans for its Creek District development , which originally called for 1.2 million square feet of residential, to just 20,000 square feet.
Plans for the Capalina Apartments call for a mix of studios, one-bedroom units, two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms. It will also have six apartments set aside for tenants making 50 percent of the area median income, or $48,250 a year for an individual.
Amenities will include a recreation area, pool and hot tub, gym, co-working area and a 1,285-square-foot roof deck. Each unit will get a parking spot, and there will be electrical vehicle charging spots as well.
In addition to the Sprinter train as an alternative to driving your car, there will be a bus stop onsite (it already exists on the vacant property), and it is near the Inland Rail Trail, which is a bike path that goes through parts of San Marcos and Escondido. Plans for the trail eventually have it stretching for 21 miles through Oceanside and Vista.
Rilling said it was too soon to say what rents will be at the Capalina Apartments but he noted that they will be comparable to market rents for the area. Real estate tracker CoStar said the average rent in San Marcos for a one-bedroom unit is $2,314 a month; $2,734 for a two-bedroom; and $3,447 for a three-bedroom.
The most recent apartment complexes built in San Marcos include the 118-unit Anden complex (opened in 2019) with an overall average rent of $3,790 a month; the 416-unit Marc buildings (2017) with an average monthly rent of $2,902; and Block C at North City (2016) where rents average $2,633 a month.
Moeder said the city will be a prime spot in the future with developers because of the efforts to build up the area around Cal State San Marcos. In particular, he noted the North City development , which is a mix of apartments, offices and commercial space next to the university.
"San Marcos is arguably the top growth area in North San Diego," Moeder said, "because it is tied to the university."
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .
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