Latest Affordable Housing Development Opens in City Heights
Deputy Mayor Atkins Attends Metro Villas Grand Opening Ceremony

SAN DIEGO – The City Heights community today welcomed a new affordable housing facility to the neighborhood with a grand opening celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The recently completed $26 million Metro Villas facility is the final phase in the City Heights Metro Center redevelopment project which includes the Metro Career Center employment facility and community amenities.

Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins hailed the opening of the Metro Villas as another important step in the revitalization of City Heights as well as providing high-quality affordable housing opportunities for San Diegans.

“It’s rewarding to witness first-hand what the opening of Metro Villas means to the residents living in the beautiful development, said Deputy Mayor Atkins.  “Housing projects like this help underscore how quickly housing affordable housing opportunities can instill a new sense of pride for the families who live here.  This entire center is a model for how redevelopment can be a catalyst to bring much-needed housing and services to areas that need it most.”

The 120-unit Metro Villas is comprised of nine three- and four-story apartment buildings, a laundry building and resident activities building.  Designed for very low-income residents, the Metro Villas offers units of one to four bedrooms.   

The project was made possible through a collaborative effort of the City of San Diego, its Redevelopment Agency (Community and Economic Development Department and the Centre City Development Corporation) and Housing Commission, as well as private development partners including San Diego Interfaith Housing and the City Heights Community Development Corporation. 

The project will also offer a state-of-the-art job training facility. The 81,500 square-foot Metro Career Center facility offers job seekers and employers a comprehensive menu of services designed to improve worker skill sets and provide qualified employees to businesses large and small.   The San Diego Workforce Partnership, together with more than a dozen other partners, provides job training and employment assistance through a joint powers agreement between the City and the County of San Diego.  A 489-space parking structure serves both the commercial and residential components of the project. 

Additional partners involved in the Metro Center project include San Diego Workforce Partnership and San Diego Revitalization Corporation, the development arm of Price Charities.  Redevelopment efforts in City Heights have focused on affordable housing, new commercial and retail space, and improved community facilities and public transit – the Metro Career Center and Metro Villas projects build upon these, truly focusing on community needs.

# # #

The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency eliminates blight from designated areas, as well as achieves the goals of development, reconstruction and rehabilitation of residential, commercial, industrial, and retail districts.  Redevelopment is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into deteriorated areas plagued by social, physical, environmental or economic conditions that act as a barrier to new investment by private enterprise.  The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency consists of three divisions: the City Redevelopment Division (which provides overall agency management and is housed in the City of San Diego Communityand Economic Development Department), the Centre City Development Corporation and the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation. Visit www.sandiego.gov/redevelopment-agency or call (619) 533-4233.