Whole Foods Joins Downtown San Diego Apartment Project

Whole Foods Market will open its first downtown San Diego grocery in the base of a 34-story residential tower now under construction as part of a mixed-use development in the city’s historically commercial- and government-focused core.

Whole Foods will occupy 50K SF in ground-floor and mezzanine space at Front & A, a 450-unit residential tower under construction at 201 West A Street, according to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Holland Partner Group is developing the Front & A tower, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2026. Vancouver, WA-based Holland Partner is nearing completion on a second tower about a block away, known as West, which will be an office and apartment complex.

The Vancouver firm and a Japanese builder, North America Sekisui House, acquired three downtown blocks from the county in 2019 after winning a bid to redevelop the former San Diego Central Courthouse site. The developers paid $5M for the 3.9-acre site.

“The redevelopment vision for these three blocks is to create a true mixed-use village that supports an ecosystem of residential, office and dining options, serving not just our residents and office tenants, but energizing downtown as a whole,” Brent Schertzer, a Holland Group executive, told the newspaper.

Schertzer added that the Whole Foods outlet will serve as a neighborhood amenity and help grow the connection between the western and central districts of downtown San Diego.

Nineteen of the 450 residential units at Front & A will be deed-restricted for very low-income families making 50% or less than the area’s median income.

The building will include two levels of underground parking and six-levels of enclosed, above-ground parking encompassing 693 parking spaces, including 518 spaces reserved for residents and 175 spaces reserved for downtown shoppers.

An amenity deck on the ninth floor of Front & A will include a dog run, indoor lounge, meeting spaces and an indoor-outdoor fitness center. The top floor will feature a rooftop lounge with a pool, spa and outdoor terrace.

The Whole Foods outlet will be the Amazon-owned chains first store in downtown San Diego. The chain was previously planning to occupy space in a project at 7th & Market that failed to get developed during the pandemic, the report said.

Whole Foods currently has three locations in San Diego County in Hillcrest, La Jolla and Del Mar.

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