San Diego's former Ritz-Carlton site could be redeveloped with housing, retail and small hotel

A downtown San Diego site that was once destined to become home to the city’s first Ritz-Carlton hotel is now being considered for yet another mixed-use project - this time from a developer who twice lost out in previous efforts to redevelop the much-debated block at 7th Avenue and Market Street.

The San Diego City Council agreed Monday to pursue negotiations with longtime hotel developer Robert Green, who brought to the city an unsolicited proposal to build a high-rise tower that would include 460 housing units, of which 15% would be income-restricted for 55 years. The negotiating agreement between the city and Green also contemplates a small boutique hotel, although it is not required. Green’s Encinitas-based company is responsible for developing the tony 317-room Pendry hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter nine years ago.

While the council vote obligates the city to negotiate with Green over the next 180 days, it does not constitute approval of the development proposal itself. If talks go well, a detailed agreement covering the purchase and redevelopment of the city-owned East Village site would return to the council for its consideration.

Monday’s action came without any discussion, as the proposed negotiating agreement was included within a consent agenda that covered multiple items. The council had agreed to consider Green’s proposal following a February closed session when city staff was instructed to further explore the project details. Last month, the council’s Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee considered the proposed agreement with Green, and it, too, passed with no discussion from the council members present.

The hoped-for redevelopment of the 55,000-square-foot block bounded by 7th, Market, and 8th and Island avenues has something of a tortured history dating back to 2008 when the former agency that oversaw downtown redevelopment sought proposals to reimagine the city site. The Robert Green Company was the runner-up among seven bidders, but the whole process collapsed following revelations about a financial relationship between the winning bidder and the former president of the former Centre City Development Corp.

Eight years later, the city revived redevelopment efforts when the council approved plans by Cisterra Development to revitalize what is still a surface parking lot with a160-room Ritz-Carlton hotel and 58 Ritz-branded condos, a Whole Foods Market, 115 apartments, and 32 affordable housing units. But that project failed to come to fruition as well following years of delays and warnings from the city that Cisterra had not lived up to the terms of its agreement with the city for developing what was then pegged as a $700 million project.

“We believe in that location, and we believe that a high-rise, a very high-quality mixed-use residential project with ground-floor retail and food and beverage that has a relationship to the ballpark and the Gaslamp can work,” Green said in an interview with the Union-Tribune. “That’s why we like this and that’s why we’ve followed this block for so many years.”

Green, however, wasn’t free to pitch his latest proposal for the 7th and Market site until the city had exhausted all its redevelopment efforts under what’s known as the state Surplus Land Act, which is designed to encourage the construction of housing affordable for lower-income households when local jurisdictions are disposing of government-owned property.

The city began working with the Chelsea Investment Corp. on a plan to develop more than 400 low-income units on the site, but both sides ultimately agreed more than a year ago to abandon the project when it was determined it wouldn’t pencil out. Last August, state housing officials informed the city it had satisfied the requirements of the Surplus Land Act and was free to renew redevelopment efforts as long as 15% of any housing proposed was set aside for low-income households.

While the focus of Green’s company is hotel development, he says he is not so sure at this time whether even a small hotel makes sense, given the current challenges in getting hotels financed. The city’s recent approval of a higher minimum wage for tourism workers only adds to the financial challenges, Green said.

“We are contemplating doing a primarily residential component, but we have left the door open to incorporate a small hotel component because we believe that that may be a powerful tool to differentiate our project within the market,” Green said. “However, the hotel industry is facing a lot of challenges right now.”

While he isn’t proposing a gourmet market, he is thinking about including a food hall not unlike the upscale Italian marketplace known as Eataly. He had reached out to the brand when he last proposed a development for 7th and Market.

Several years ago, Green had hoped to build a second hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter, but he says plans for his proposed 240-room 4th and J project currently remain on hold amid still high interest rates and escalating construction and labor costs. His most recently completed project was in 2020 when the luxury Montage resort opened in Sonoma wine country.

His firm also had been involved in a luxury resort project in La Quinta, but those plans went awry when a development firm managed by the Robert Green Company filed for bankruptcy in 2024. Green blames the financial struggles with the project on the pandemic, which he said led to the collapse of his lender.

“We had a construction loan in place,” he explained. “We had started construction and our lender ended up going out of business and selling their company and didn’t fund the whole construction loan. And we got caught up in all that.”

Green said he expects that it could take up to 1 1/2 years to complete the negotiation and development agreement process. And after that would come the process of securing permit approvals should he get that far.

In the event a development agreement is consummated, Green would be required to purchase the East Village site. It had previously been valued at $20 million, but a new appraisal would be required.

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 4:56 PM.