Lomas Santa Fe's Rebuild Ends at the Plaza Corner, and the Plaza Has Plans of Its Own

"We're not closing any roads, we'll always have a lane open in each direction at all times," Greg Gomez, project manager for the city's engineering and construction firm Kleinfelder, told the San Diego Union-Tribune in September.

That promise now gets its test. The City of Solana Beach's project page says construction on the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor East project starts Tuesday, Oct. 13, on the stretch from Santa Helena Drive to Highland Drive. Crews will work from east to west, so the last segment they reach is the corner by Santa Helena and Las Banderas at the edge of Lomas Santa Fe Plaza. The plaza's owner has put that same corner on its own long-range list.

The work starts at Highland and moves toward the Vons

City Engineer Austin Frisby described the sequence to the Union-Tribune as working east to west in three stages:

1. Raised medians come first.
2. New sidewalk on the south side of Lomas Santa Fe follows.
3. North-side roadway work comes last, adding 0.93 miles of multi-use trail that Frisby compared to the Coastal Rail Trail.

The city hasn't published dates for each phase, and it hasn't said which signalized intersections will be modified. The project page says traffic impacts will be posted there as details are confirmed. The first weeks look small. Crews set out cones and signs, mark utilities, and dig small test holes to find water, gas and electrical lines before any heavy work begins.

Here is the weekly rhythm the city has committed to:

• Hours: 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except city holidays.
• Pauses: No construction during the Del Mar Fair or around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
• Lanes: At least one travel lane open in each direction throughout.
• Via Mil Cumbres: During two short work phases, residents of that community will be sent to one of two available exit routes.
• Driveways: The city and contractor say they will work to keep access to homes and businesses open whenever possible, and will give advance notice of any temporary restrictions to the extent feasible.

People did raise concerns at council. The Union-Tribune reported that public comments focused on how long construction would last, possible traffic delays, and drivers cutting through parallel streets such as Sun Valley Road. The city's response includes a full-time Kleinfelder construction manager on site, large digital message boards, and a helpline.

The road you get back keeps its four lanes

The city's contract staff report keeps two travel lanes in each direction, which matches the current layout, so no through lane is removed. The changes happen along the edges of the road. The city lists them as:

• raised medians with native, drought-tolerant plants
• Class II bike lanes in both directions
• a new multi-use path on the north side and a new sidewalk on the south side
• decorative walls with seating, plus trash and recycling bins
• ADA-compliant curb ramps
• storm drain and water-quality upgrades
• new signs, striping and signal changes

The roundabouts some longtime residents may remember from early drafts are gone. The city's corridor project page says all of them were dropped in 2018.

City Council voted 5–0 on May 27, 2026, to award the contract to Tri-Group Construction and Development, Inc., on a construction bid of $6,740,708 with a $675,000 contingency. The cost figure you see depends on the document. The project page says $7.5 million. The staff report puts total expected costs at $8,578,944 once construction management and design support are added. Most of the money comes from a $7 million Community Project Funding grant secured by Congressman Mike Levin. Measure S funds and Transportation Impact Fees cover the rest.

The finish date is a little loose too. The staff report estimates 220 working days and completion in late summer 2027. The project FAQ says fall 2027.

This segment is also only the beginning. The city calls it the first phase of the full Lomas Santa Fe corridor. Its May 2026 council presentation shows the West segment's design being finalized in 2027, with $3.5 million in SANDAG grant funding behind it.

The plaza at the west end has a full fall

The construction runs to Santa Helena, which is the Lomas Santa Fe Plaza end of the project. On paper, the shopping center is doing fine. American Assets Trust's second-quarter 2026 supplemental report listed the plaza as 98.1% leased as of June 30, 2026, with Vons and HomeGoods among its anchor tenants.

The newest arrival is Dave's Hot Chicken. WhatNow San Diego reported in November 2025 that it would take over the former Einstein's Bagels space at 905 Lomas Santa Fe Drive. The plaza's directory now lists it as open.

North Coast Repertory Theatre has been at the plaza for more than 40 years. Its 2026–27 season, as announced in BroadwayWorld, brings people to this corner through the first months of construction:

The construction schedule overlaps with these runs less than you might think. Crews stop at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and don't work weekends. The Thanksgiving pause falls right after The Cottage closes, and the Christmas pause overlaps the run of How to Write a Holiday.

The corner where the road ends is the corner the owner has flagged

The Union-Tribune reported that the project includes a new decorative retaining wall near Santa Helena and Las Banderas. The plaza's eastern buildings sit at that same intersection.

According to The Coast News, American Assets Trust filed a preliminary application with the city in November 2024. It proposes two three-story mixed-use buildings with two levels of underground parking and up to 352 homes ranging from one to three bedrooms. The affected area includes:

• the Union Bank building
• the easternmost building along Lomas Santa Fe Drive and Las Banderas Drive, which houses Samurai Restaurant, Arthur Murray Dance Studio, medical and therapy offices, furniture stores and North Coast Rep
• the two-story building that houses 24 Hour Fitness and Rancho Santa Fe Veterinary Hospital

The Vons, HomeGoods, We R Fabrics Design Center, Big 5 Sporting Goods and Jersey Mike's buildings in the center and west of the site are not part of the proposal.

Both sides told The Coast News the plan is early. American Assets president Adam Wyll called the filing "the very start of a multi-year entitlement process." North Coast Rep spokesperson Nancy Richards said the theater's lease runs through June 2030. She said it is too early to know whether the project will be approved or what its final scope will be, and that construction "will likely not commence for at least five years." She also said the theater intends to keep operating without interruption, either inside the redeveloped center or somewhere else if it has to.

The company's own filings still list the idea, without numbers. In its Q2 2026 supplemental, American Assets lists Lomas Santa Fe Plaza as a multifamily development opportunity with units "TBD." The same table lists Solana Beach Towne Centre the same way. The company cautions that many items in that table are preliminary and may never happen. We found no public hearing or formal application on either property after The Coast News report.

The new wall at Santa Helena and Las Banderas sits at the west end of a road project the city expects to finish in 2027. Any redevelopment of the plaza's east end, if it is approved at all, would come after that, on the timeline North Coast Rep described.

If you have questions about a specific closure, the project helpline is (858) 723-8511 and the email is [email protected]. You can sign up for email updates on the city's project page.

At Folio Real Estate, we follow corridor projects and entitlement filings like these block by block, because a road rebuild and a "TBD" line in a REIT filing often show where a neighborhood is heading before any listing does. If you own near Lomas Santa Fe and want to know what this corridor could mean for your property over the next few years, let's talk. Build Your Folio With Us.