LA JOLLA UTC Master Plan
At the center of the La Jolla UTC Live, Work & Play Lifestyle
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La Jolla University Town Center (UTC) is a hub of innovation. It is one of California’s premier employment centers, attracting businesses and institutions that conduct world-class research in a variety of industries, including biotech, high-tech and health care.
Innovative and industry leading companies are attracted to everything La Jolla UTC has to offer – proximity to a world-class university, access to talent, unrivaled weather and vibrant workplace communities that offer outdoor and collaborative workspaces and other amenities that inspire employees and spur innovation and growth.
In 2024, the San Diego City Council adopted the University Community Plan Update, which guides land-use policies in the 8,700‑acre La Jolla UTC and UC San Diego region. The plan update notes that job growth has outpaced the supply of housing, affecting the quality of life for La Jolla UTC residents, workers and visitors. It calls for up to 29,000 new homes and 72,000 jobs, reinforcing the area as a major employment hub and walkable live-work-play community.
As envisioned by the recent University Community Plan Update, Irvine Company is partnering with the city of San Diego to meet its new housing plans in La Jolla UTC. The greater San Diego metropolitan area remains a key driver of the Company’s success as it reinvests in La Jolla UTC and other areas of the city.
The Plaza plan
Irvine Company owns and operates a number of apartment communities in La Jolla UTC as well as best in class office properties. The commercial office properties include The Plaza, La Jolla Gateway and others that are centered around the Westfield UTC shopping center, offering pedestrian access to the mall and the adjacent UTC Transit Center trolley platform. Others are within a mile of the mall and trolley station, including Eastgate, a 26-building campus with office, R&D and lab space.
The Plaza features 850K square feet of offices and amenities in a 17-acre parklike setting that includes Red O restaurant, Kinetic Fitness, Banyan Kitchen and Wi-Fi-connected outdoor workspaces.
The Irvine Company’s plan will redevelop low-rise office buildings on the west side of The Plaza site into a new apartment community. Located on Genesee Avenue on the corners of Executive Drive (Building A) and La Jolla Drive (Building B), the community will consist of 552 apartments. Ranging from studios to three bedrooms, the apartment homes will appeal to students, tech workers, professionals and families.
“Our La Jolla UTC workplaces provide companies and their teams access to the ultimate coastal workday lifestyle – centrally located and surrounded by exceptional amenities,” says Roger DeWames, president of Irvine Company Office Properties. “Providing housing at The Plaza will make the campus even more desirable, drawing professionals and young workers to a true live, work and play city center that is walkable to shopping and dining and within a trolley ride of much of the city of San Diego.”
Uniquely walkable
Directly across the street from The Plaza is Westfield UTC, the destination retail center in the region with more than 200 shops and restaurants. It has undergone a nearly $1 billion transformation since 2012, adding high-end shops, a five-level parking structure, new dining options and office space. Now, Westfield UTC is adding nearly 70,000 square feet of space where the mall’s original Nordstrom store stood. The Westfield project will add nine stores and two restaurants adjacent to the pedestrian bridge that connects to The Plaza. Globally inspired restaurants will open in a two‑level building opposite dining destinations Din Tai Fung and Javier’s and will include lush landscaping to amplify the ambiance of that entrance. The expansion is set to open in phases beginning Spring 2026.
Transit connectivity
Irvine Company’s The Plaza and adjacent Westfield UTC center are the final two stops on the UC San Diego Blue Line. Regional transit officials completed a $2 billion extension of the light-rail San Diego trolley in 2021, bringing service to La Jolla UTC for the first time. Considered the largest public transit project in the history of San Diego County, the 11-mile addition to the Trolley Blue Line connects La Jolla UTC to downtown and the international border. The Plaza is one stop away from UCSD Health campus and two from the central campus station of UCSD. Within an 11-minute trolley ride, tenants and residents can reach retail centers offering Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and other shopping and dining options.
Campus Culture
Just a short trolley ride away from The Plaza are renowned art and culture offerings at UC San Diego near the Central Campus trolley station. There are more than 20 sculptures in the Stuart Collection, located throughout the 1,200-acre UC San Diego campus. While all the artworks are within a 20-minute walk from the Trolley Stop, well-known works like the giant “Bear” by Tim Hawkinson and “Snake Path” by Alexis Smith are nearby the station, as is the newest work in the Stuart Collection, “Kahnop.”
The artwork is part of a pathway built in conjunction with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s (MTS) extension of the Trolley line to the University campus. “Kahnop” features about 20,000 paver stones emblazoned with 1,300 lines from the writing of authors and scholars with ties to the university and its history.
Also a short walk from the UCSD trolley station is the Epstein Family Amphitheater, a 2,500-seat state-of-the-art venue featuring music, dance, film, campus events and other performing arts. The theater that opened in 2022 is also used for UC San Diego’s nationally ranked theatre, dance, visual arts and music programs.
State-of-the-art offices
In addition to adding housing at The Plaza, Irvine Company’s La Jolla UTC master plan includes a multimillion-dollar reinvestment to The Plaza’s office campus that includes additional and upgraded amenities, such as outdoor seating and collaborative workspaces, enhanced technology and connectivity, and a terraced turf area.
Irvine Company has reinvested more than $200 million in its San Diego portfolio of office and apartment communities over the past five years, and its portfolio is nearly 90% leased in the greater San Diego area.
The Company recently completed a $3.5 million reinvestment at The Plaza in La Jolla UTC and is actively planning a number of additional reinvestments throughout La Jolla UTC. The Company also starts construction this summer on a nearly $21 million reinvestment project at Eastgate in La Jolla UTC.
Eastgate is home to larger customers, with additional demand for flexible and smaller spaces that are attractive to start-up tech and life science companies, and the creative, financial and other niche industries that serve them. A mix of creative and tech companies both large and small at Eastgate and similar La Jolla UTC office campuses inspires spin-offs, start-ups and cross-industry collaboration.
Planning for and supporting such an environment attracts innovators, entrepreneurs and young professionals who enjoy living and working in a city center environment like La Jolla UTC. All are factors in meeting the goals of the city in adopting the University Community Plan Update.
The future
As La Jolla UTC evolves in accordance with the priorities of the city’s University Community Plan Update, the desirability of the community as one of Southern California’s premier live, work and play city centers will only increase. The Plaza and other Irvine Company properties are uniquely positioned for an era when walkability and connectivity within an amenity-rich neighborhood are assets to attract and retain top employees. Incorporating adjacent residences and reinvesting in existing properties is part of the company’s master plan that will serve to amplify the attraction that makes La Jolla UTC such a successful and vibrant part of San Diego.
“As La Jolla UTC evolves to meet the city’s vision, its status as a top Southern California live, work, and play center will only grow. Irvine Company’s master plan amplifies the very qualities that make the area such a successful and vibrant part of San Diego.”
– JEFF DAVIS,
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, IRVINE COMPANY