New development brings 59 condos and commercial space to SLO County. Here’s a look
After just two years of construction, another multi-story mixed-use building made its debut on Grover Beach’s bustling West Grand Avenue.
On Saturday, developer Coastal Community Builders held the grand opening of Encore, a 59-unit building with four ground floor commercial spaces.
The grand opening of the four-story Encore signaled an end to years of city streetscape work and construction efforts by Coastal Community Builders at the intersection of West Grand Avenue and 4th Street, as Encore and its sister project across the street, the 39-unit Palladium complex, rose higher into the skyline.
Coastal Community Builders CEO Cam Boyd said the two projects are a sign of what’s to come on the “West End” of Grover Beach, where his company has completed two mixed-use buildings with at least two more to come.
“These two buildings have really set the tone for one of the key nodes into the city, 4th and Grand being one of the two most important intersections,” Boyd said. "Having these transformed from a used car lot and a boarded-up abandoned market and a vacant lot into a place where 100-plus families are going to be able to create a lifetime of memories is really meaningful.”
New condos offer rooftop views, residents-only amenities
Originally approved by the Grover Beach City Council in the fall of 2023, Encore consists of 59 units spread across two buildings totaling 85,760 square feet on a 1.38-acre lot that sat vacant for the better part of the past decade.
Encore’s condominiums range between 595-square-foot studios to three-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot units, of which 40 take advantage of the city’s fractional density guidelines, which state that a unit under 600 square feet counts as half of a unit, while a unit between 601 and 1,000 square feet counts as two-thirds of a unit and a unit of 1,000 square feet or more counts as one unit, allowing mixed-use developments to exceed the usual zoning limits of a plot.
The development includes 80 parking spaces, with an additional 22 parking spaces offsite credited toward the project.
Residents can access a private gym, dedicated shared event space and rooftop social spaces that can be reserved by residents and their guests.
On the ground floor, 6,900 square feet of space is broken up across four commercial spaces for retail or restaurant businesses — and some interested tenants including a Pilates studio, coffee shops and restaurants are already evaluating leases, Boyd said.
Boyd said neither Encore nor Palladium’s units are eligible as short-term rentals, but what the owners do beyond that is up to them.
“I don’t know the exact breakdown, but from what I’m hearing, it’s fairly similar to Palladium, where you’ve got roughly a third, a third and a third, where about a third of them are owner-occupied, full-time residents, a third of them are investors who are renting them out to full-time residents and about a third of them are second homes or vacation homes,” Boyd said.
More Coastal Community Builders projects coming soon
While Grover Beach’s West Grand Avenue has become a hotbed for redevelopment, Coastal Community Builders isn’t done on the West End, Boyd said.
Construction on Trinity, a 23-unit mixed-use condo development at 197 W Grand Ave., has made swift progress along Highway 1 since breaking ground a little over a year ago, Boyd said.
In between Trinity and Encore, Coastal Community Builders is also planning to submit development plans within the next couple of months for the project that will replace the Beach Front Plaza, Boyd said. That project will stand four stories high, with its first floor dedicated to commercial space and 37 residential units above, he said.
The majority of Encore’s condos have already been purchased, with just a handful left on the market, Boyd said. One-bedroom units start in the low $400,000 range, while the largest three-bedroom units can run into the high $900,000 range, according to Encore’s website.
Buyers interested in Encore’s units can learn more at encorebyccb.com.
