Heavy equipment showed up on the banks of the San Diego River on September 16, 2026, to start work on the Fenton Parkway Bridge. It was a moment two decades in the making, first written into the Mission Valley Community Plan before most of the neighborhood's current apartment towers existed. Two miles away, at the mall everyone still calls Westfield out of habit, a new açaí shop was already taking orders and a 200-seat restaurant was finishing its buildout, both having gone from announcement to open doors inside a single summer.
Those two timelines sitting next to each other say something about how this neighborhood actually works right now. The big, structural stuff that residents have needed for years moves at the pace of environmental review and CSU board meetings. The retail stuff, the part of Mission Valley you actually walk into on a Tuesday night, moves at the pace of a lease signing.
Twenty Years to Break Ground
The Fenton Parkway Bridge has been a line item in city planning documents since the 1980s and resurfaced as a real commitment in 2019, when San Diego negotiated the sale of the old stadium site to San Diego State University. Voters had already approved that sale path through Measure G in 2018. SDSU closed on 135 acres along Friars Road in August 2020 for $88 million, and building this bridge was part of the deal.
From there it took a 2022 memorandum of understanding between the city and the university, a certified Environmental Impact Report in September 2024, and another two years of permitting before crews could actually start. KPBS reported that construction is now underway with a fall 2027 completion target, more than a year from today.
The bridge itself is a $53 million, 450-foot span that will finally connect Fenton Parkway across the San Diego River to Camino Del Rio North, sitting on three piers in the channel. It gives Mission Valley something it has never had: a second reliable north-south river crossing that stays open during flooding, plus dedicated bike and pedestrian paths and better access to the Green Line trolley stations at Fenton Parkway and SDSU Mission Valley. SDSU has said to expect limited traffic impacts around Camino Del Rio North and the Fenton Parkway and River Park Road intersection while work continues, but the payoff doesn't arrive until next fall.
It's worth noting that Mission Valley infrastructure isn't always this slow. Jacaranda Street, closed for its own construction work, reopened back on July 1, 2026, a reminder that some projects here do wrap on a normal timeline. The bridge is just not one of them.
The Valley Rebuilt Itself in a Summer
The retail side of the neighborhood tells the opposite story. Westfield sold the mall property in 2023, splitting it between Lowe Enterprises and Real Capital Solutions on the open-air east side and Sunbelt Investment Holdings on the big-box west side. The Westfield name came off the building, and the property began rebranding as The Valley, aiming less at a traditional mall and more at a place to shop, eat, and stay for a while.
What followed happened fast. Kura Sushi and Box Lunch opened this past summer. Oakberry, the Brazilian açaí chain, arrived at 1640 Camino Del Rio North in late August. The Stand, a Southern California burger chain known for full bar service alongside its menu, built out a 200-seat indoor and outdoor space directly across from the AMC theater this September, its 23rd location. Philz Coffee landed the same month. Spencer's, a longtime tenant, is relocating into a bigger, redesigned space in the Target wing this fall without closing its original location during the move. In October, Encuentro, the Venezuelan restaurant company that started in Old Town, is setting up a kiosk in the property's outdoor Oasis area with picnic baskets meant to be eaten on the lawn. European Wax Center moves into a new space next to Foot Locker in November.
The bigger swings are still ahead. Early 2027 is supposed to bring a 158,000-square-foot DICK'S House of Sport with an indoor climbing wall and golf simulators, along with the indoor playground Candeeland and the bowling and arcade venue Round1. Target, Nordstrom Rack, AMC, and Yard House are staying put through all of it.
Line up the two calendars and the gap is stark. The retail side of Mission Valley turned over a meaningful chunk of its tenant list in about four months. The infrastructure side needed six years just to get a shovel in the ground.
| Fenton Parkway Bridge | The Valley (retail) |
|---|---|
| 2018: Measure G approves site sale | 2023: Westfield sells, rebrand begins |
| 2020: SDSU buys 135 acres | Summer 2026: Kura Sushi, Box Lunch open |
| 2022: City-SDSU MOU signed | Late Aug 2026: Oakberry opens |
| Sept 2024: EIR certified | Sept 2026: The Stand, Philz Coffee open |
| Sept 2026: Construction begins | Oct-Nov 2026: Encuentro, European Wax Center |
| Fall 2027: Bridge opens | Early 2027: DICK'S House of Sport, Round1 |
The Rest of the Neighborhood Is Moving Too
The mall isn't the only place turning over. In Civita, La Clochette Cafe and Bakery, a French cafe already established on Cass Street in Pacific Beach since 2015, has taken the space originally planned for a different bakery concept and is expected to open in the coming months. Nearby, EverSun Beauty and Wellness is bringing tanning, skincare, red light therapy, and infrared treatments to Mission Center Road sometime in 2026. EverSun is the rebrand of iTAN Sun Spray Spa, a name plenty of longtime San Diegans will recognize.
Over at Hazard Center, a redevelopment called The Landing at HZRD is leasing now, with construction happening in phases through 2026. The plan is to turn the property into more of a gathering spot than a standard shopping center, with more dining and reasons to linger.
None of this is waiting on the bridge, and none of it is slowing the bridge down either. They're just running on separate clocks.
The One Big Project That Already Finished
There's a useful counterexample to the bridge's timeline sitting less than a mile from the construction site. The 34-acre River Park at SDSU Mission Valley broke ground in April 2021 and officially opened in March 2024, complete with more than four miles of walking and biking trails, a children's play area, and a direct connection to the Green Line trolley. It proves big infrastructure here can finish on something close to a normal schedule. It just did, three years ago, right before the bridge project picked up its own six-year runway to a groundbreaking.
For residents, that means the park is already fully usable while the bridge construction unfolds nearby. It's the calm, finished piece of the neighborhood sitting in the middle of everything still in motion.
Snapdragon Stadium Isn't Pausing for Either One
The stadium built on the same site keeps its own calendar running regardless of what's happening with the bridge or the mall. October alone brings SDSU Aztec football against Texas State on October 3, San Diego FC hosting Houston Dynamo on October 14, and San Diego Wave FC facing Boston Legacy FC on October 25. Metallica is booked for December 28. Check the Snapdragon Stadium schedule directly since dates shift.
Putting a Weekend Together Right Now
A fall Saturday in Mission Valley today can pull from all three timelines at once, without waiting for any of them to finish:
- Morning: walk or bike a stretch of the River Park's trail system, unaffected by the bridge work happening a short distance away.
- Afternoon: head to The Valley for a stop at Oakberry or Philz, then browse whichever big-box tenants are still mid-renovation.
- Evening: if there's a game on the calendar, catch SDSU football or a San Diego FC match at Snapdragon Stadium, then grab dinner at one of the sit-down spots that never left, from Gravity Heights to Lucca's Pizzeria.
The bridge won't be part of that walk for another year. Everything else already is.
Mission Valley rewards the kind of attention that catches these overlapping timelines, and that's exactly the lens Patricia Casanova brings to every neighborhood she covers. If you're watching how a specific block or building here is changing and want a second set of eyes on what it means for your own plans, reach out anytime. Consulta en español disponible.
