NBC 7’s Artie Ojeda takes a look back at Horton Plaza’s opening in 1985 to show you how far it’s come.
The sight of San Diego's rapidly vanishing Mission Valley stadium now has a companion piece downtown, where demolition crews have scraped away the facade of the once-iconic Horton Plaza mall, rendering it unrecognizable in some spots.
Demolition work has dramatically altered the site of the former mall that helped to anchor the revitalization of San Diego’s downtown and Gaslamp Quarter.
The work is being done to make way for a new $330 million high-tech office campus and lifestyle center called the Campus at Horton, much of which will utilize the bones of Horton Plaza. Developers expect the final site to boast 700,000 square feet of office space and 300,000 square feet of retail space, including both restaurants as well as shops.
Good news for commuters: The Campus at Horton will retain Horton Plaza's parking garage, enough spaces for 2,200 drivers to park.
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See below for a gallery of artist renderings of the completed project:
Horton Plaza originally opened to the public in 1985, housing a movie theater, Macy’s and other department stores, and restaurants.
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“The glory, the glamour and the glitz it brought to San Diego,” Oscar Carlson told NBC 7 last summer when the demolition began. “We lived in Oceanside when it opened, but we came down frequently just for the experience.”
Horton Plaza's unique architecture distinguished it from other malls in the county. The Los Angeles Times even called it a landmark of urban design.
Developers hope the new project will attract Silicon Valley technology companies to San Diego, with 3,000 and 4,000 new workers employed at the Campus at Horton. The project is expected to be completed by early next year.
