How Horton Plaza Could Change San Diego Again

If you’ve been to Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego lately, you’re one of not that many, at least not as many as there used to be.

But anyone who’s been to the multi-level outdoor urban mall knows things have changed over the years.

Horton Plaza opened in 1985, that’s 33 years ago, and before that, what was on that site was not pretty. Run down old buildings and shops, some tattoo parlors and the like, not an area that attracted a lot of residents or tourists.  But once Horton Plaza was there, downtown San Diego began to spring to life, helping to spark more development around it including the Gaslamp Quarter.

A renovation of part of Horton Plaza just a few years ago looked like it was going to help with a new urban park, but the recession and the boom in on line shopping led to stores closing and lots of empty space in what was once a Horton Plaza that had won distinction for its architecture and concept.

But now things are about to change in a big way with the sale of Horton Plaza to a Texas based company that plans to revive the area by changing the area…from a shopping district to what is described by the Union Tribune as an “all-inclusive, upscale work-and-play environment.”

Sounds like the idea is to make Horton Plaza a place with modern open style offices combined with places where you do things and not just shop for things.

And it sounds like the project could be one that real estate developer Alonzo Horton would have liked. 

It was Alonzo Horton back in the late 1800’s who is said to have told his wife one day that they were leaving their home back East and moving to a small town near the Mexican border named San Diego to build a city.

And now the plaza named after Alonzo Horton is about to be re-built.

(Photo credit CE Albert)

Horton Plaza San Diego  CE Albert

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