San Diego Approves $4.2 Billion Midway Rising Redevelopment

San Diego's City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve Midway Rising, a $4.2 billion rebuild of the 48.5-acre arena site. [City Council votes unanimously for Midway Rising (Voice of San Diego via OB Rag)]

The deal, approved November 9 after a meeting that ran more than seven hours, gives Midway Rising, LLC a 105-year lease on the Pechanga Arena property. The plan builds a 16,000-seat arena, about 4,250 homes — 2,000 of them income-restricted — plus parks and retail. [City Council votes unanimously for Midway Rising (Voice of San Diego via OB Rag)] [Midway Rising approved: $4.2 billion arena project (San Diego Lineup)]

The pieces, in order: the new arena goes up on the eastern portion of the site, where Dixieline Lumber sits now, while the existing Pechanga Arena stays open during initial construction. Around it, five phases add the housing — 4,250 units in the approved plan — 14 acres of parks, and commercial and retail space across roughly two city blocks. The development team is led by Stan Kroenke's real estate group with local developer Brad Termini of Zephyr. The site's bet is proximity: close enough to the Old Town Transit Center to walk, in a district that today is mostly parking lots and big-box retail. [City Council votes unanimously for Midway Rising (Voice of San Diego via OB Rag)] [Midway Rising approved: $4.2 billion arena project (San Diego Lineup)]

The conditions matter as much as the renderings. An amendment from Councilmember Kent Lee requires the affordable units to be 'net new' — the project can't count housing that already exists toward its 2,000 income-restricted homes, which are set at an average of 60 percent of area median income. The state cleared the path in advance: Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 344 on September 29, 2026, streamlining the project's route through California environmental law. [Midway Rising approved: $4.2 billion arena project (San Diego Lineup)]

The timeline is long and the lease is longer. Termini says Phase 1 — the arena, mixed-use buildings and a large public outdoor space — could start as early as 2027. Voice of San Diego calls it the largest redevelopment project in the city's history. A 105-year lease signed in 2026 runs to 2131: the council that voted Monday night has bound councils none of its members will live to see. Approvals are the easy part of a century-long deal. The financing, the phasing and the building get re-argued at every step from here. [City Council votes unanimously for Midway Rising (Voice of San Diego via OB Rag)] [Midway Rising approved: $4.2 billion arena project (San Diego Lineup)]