North County New Business News: Scooby Doo Mystery

A Scooby Doo Mystery is finally being unraveled. The new shopping center and homes at the corner of Rancho Santa Fe Road and La Costa Ave. are coming to fruition. It's called La Costa Town Square. (Ps- The image above is not of the new shopping center nor are the people/animal depicted in the picture La Costa residents. Just wanted to be up front and get that out of the way).

Construction on buildings have started to sprout up this past week and details are emerging on who the new tenants are. So far we know:

• Vons
• Petco
• 24 Hour Fitness
• Stein Mart (for those of you that don't know, it's a discount apparel store like Ross but without  the surf brands Hurley, DC, Quiksilver, Billabong, Volcom, O'Neill etc. so I'm not sure what the heck is going to be in there).
• And other tenants as they get closer to the expected opening in November 2014
• And definitely NOT a movie theater as the rumor mill was spreading

There will be homes though. Davidson Communities is one of the builders. They are touting "Arterro at La Costa. Nestled in the rolling hills of North County San Diego. Featuring 63 luxury single-family homes. Thoughtful architecture and exceptional detailing will highlight these gracious homes. Residences will feature 3 to 6 bedrooms and offer 3 and 4 car garages. Floor plans range from 3,288 to 4,384 square feet. Pricing from the high 900,000's." (Which means low millions by the time the models go up this summer). The other developer is Taylor Morrison who doesn't have any information available yet on the 32 homes they're building but currently they have 9 developments in the works in Orange County around the $500k to $900k range so I expect it to be the same here.

The official word from Property Development Center's website is: "The proposed La Costa Town Square project entails the construction and operation of a mixed-use center that includes an approximately 267,400 square-foot community shopping center anchored by a new Vons Lifestyle store, 63 luxury single-family detached residential units developed by Davidson Communities and two office buildings totaling approximately 50,000 square feet.

The northern portion of the La Costa Town Square project is a proposed single-family residential project on the north side of Rancho Santa Fe Road, which will include approximately 32 dwelling units. This proposed project is by Taylor Morrison Homes.

The 83.1-acre La Costa Town Square site has been subdivided into four separate parcels:

• A 41.5-acre commercial parcel with an open-space buffer.
• A 24.4-acre single-family residential parcel. (Davidson Communities)
• A 10-acre single-family residential parcel. (Taylor Morrison Homes)
• A 7.2-acre office parcel

If done right, it should be a nice center that adds value and convenience to the surrounding neighborhoods. Please though, no more Walmarts or Tilly's though.