Written by Zane Willman, Associate Advisor | CCG Real Estate Advisors
I can't tell you how many times I've heard Midway Rising is going to be "breaking ground next year."
First it was 2024. Then 2025. Now it's 2026 and we're still waiting. If you've followed the sports arena redevelopment at all, you know the project is supposed to bring a much-needed change to the area:
- $7 billion in economic activity
- 4,200 units
- ~8,500 jobs
- A revitalized 16,000-seat arena
- and much more
What you might not know is what's happening a few blocks away.
Zephyr Partners — Midway Rising's co-developer — bought a 1.74-acre site for $9 million in 2024 (formerly known as Perry's Cafe) and is redeveloping it into a major apartment complex known as the Perry's Apartments. Seven stories with two stories of parking, 223 units total, 33 (14.8%) set aside as affordable. It's walking distance to the Old Town Transit Center. Completion is targeted for early 2028.
Drive south on the I-5 towards downtown past the Sports Arena exit and you'll see it: a construction fence with both "Zephyr Partners" and "Kroenke Holdings" printed on it, sitting a few hundred yards from the 49-acre Midway Rising lot that hasn't moved in three years.
That's not a coincidence. Kroenke Holdings is tied to Stan Kroenke, one of Midway Rising's largest investors and owner of the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Nuggets. The same team betting on the megaproject is already building next door.
It's not just Zephyr and Kroenke, either. W.E. O'Neil Construction, a 100-year-old national builder, is the general contractor, and AO Architects, a Southern California firm with 50 years in multifamily design, drew up the building. This is an experienced team putting real money and real reputation behind the district.
Midway Rising's stall has become an entitlement problem — not a sign that capital or confidence has left the area. If the same people with the most at stake in the megaproject are already building two blocks away, that's conviction the neighborhood is transforming.
If you're evaluating anything near Old Town or trying to figure out where else in San Diego capital is moving, that's exactly the kind of read CCG Real Estate Advisors specializes in. We track activity like this across San Diego multifamily every day. If you want a second set of eyes on a deal near Midway, Old Town, or anywhere else in the county, we're happy to talk through what we're seeing.
Sources: Connect CRE, Axios San Diego, Hoodline, BuildSD, W.E. O'Neil Construction, San Diego County Assessor records.
