1,800-Unit Mixed-Use Development to Rise Where a Gravel Mine Once Stood

The proposed 3roots San Diego is treading now familiar territory by attempting to appeal to Millennials. Much more novel, however, is the project's reclamation of a former mining pit.

1 minute read

November 4, 2017, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"A 412-acre rock quarry in Mira Mesa, approved for reclamation in 1994, is being replanned to include a 25-acre community park instead of industrial development," reports Roger Showley.

Lehigh Hanson, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Heidelberg Cement Group, is creating the plan for the 3roots San Diego development, which would include 1,800 units in a mixed-use and residential community responding to demand from the Millennial generation. Showley quotes Lehigh Hanson consultant Brian Myers in the article, calling the development an "alt-Urban plan."

Antonio Pacheco picked up on the news of the proposed project for The Architect's Newspaper, with coverage that focuses a little more on the design work going into the project.

The development "would be constructed over what remains of the Carroll Canyon mine, a concrete aggregate and gravel mine that ceased operations in 2016," writes Pacheco. Here's more of his description of the current plan for the project:

The development is to be laid out with a mixed-use “innovation district” at its core that will maintain transit connections to a forthcoming extension of San Diego’s light rail system. The so-called Village Core area will feature 749 apartments, 120,000 square feet of retail spaces, and 20,000 square feet of creative office. Renderings for the project depict two parallel rows of warehouse-style structures surrounding a generous pedestrian courtyard.

Sunday, October 1, 2017 in The San Diego Union-Tribune

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