SAN DIEGO-Sudberry Properties has broken ground on Civita, a 230-acre mixed-use community that will turn a 75-year-old quarry into a sustainable, walkable community with attainable housing options, village shops, and businesses. The recent groundbreaking event “marked a significant milestone in the history of Sudberry Properties and Mission Valley,” says Tom Sudberry, chairman of Sudberry Properties.

“Civita is the culmination of years of work by architects, planners and many others to create a sustainable community in the heart of San Diego,” he says. “We are looking forward to seeing new stories unfold as residents, merchants, workers and the community makes Civita their own over the next 15 years.”

Over the next 12 to 15 years, Civita is expected to become a sustainable, mixed-use community with up to 4,780 residential units and a blend of unique retail and office spaces, comprising almost 1 million square feet. Origen, by Shea Homes, is the first for-sale residential neighborhood in Civita. The 200-unit Origen will include two different types of row homes, skyLoft and socialGarden. SocialGarden row homes will be clustered around 12 beautifully landscaped courtyards and gardens; skyLoft offers a classic urban row home environment with floor-to-ceiling lofts. Models open October 2011.

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, the $59.5 million financing for the 306-unit Circa 37 complex, a project designed by MVE & Partners, includes a $47 million construction loan and a $12.5 million mezzanine loan arranged by the San Diego office of HFF. The three-year construction loan was arranged through Wells Fargo Real Estate Group Inc. and the mezzanine loan through a life insurance company. The HFF team representing the borrower included director Aldon Cole and senior managing director Tim Wright. Cole describes Circa 37 as “the first project within one of the largest development sites in central San Diego.”

The MVE & Partners web site describes Circa 37 Apartments as two- and three-story stacked flats in a design that is notable for a variety of elements, including “walkable streets and a hierarchy of parks and open spaces promote community gathering and interaction.” The complex “is further defined by pedestrian linkages between neighborhoods, open spaces, community landmarks and public transportation,” MVE says. It notes that parking is segregated from the street and located in garages and open parking within the smaller blocks.

More than one-third of Civita will be devoted to open space and public areas, including parks, landscaped parkways, community recreation center and a Civic Center with a plaza, Heritage Museum and amphitheater.