College Park & San Diego State University

Historical Subdivisions:

1. La Mesa Colony est. 1887
2. Marcellena Tract est. 1896
3. SDSTC Campus est. 1931
4. College Park Unit 1 est. 1931
5. College Park Unit 2 est. 1937
6. College Park Unit 3 est. 1947
7. Collwood Gardens est. 1949
8. Collwood Terrace est. 1950-52
9. College Heights est. 1952
10. O’Meara Chandler Subdivision est. 1965

Fun Facts:

• The San Diego State Teachers College chose the current location of SDSU in 1928 after an extensive 3-year campaign/contest that considered viable location offers from Balboa Park, Encanto, Pacific Beach, La Mesa, Rolando, and Fletcher Hills.



• Noted Los Angeles developer Alphonso Bell sold the original 300 acre site to the State with hopes of replicating his profitable development of Bel Air next to the new UCLA campus. Bell and his partner Hal Lloyd hoped to build a lakeside resort (Mission Palisades) in Alvarado Canyon that would include golf courses, polo fields, and an exclusive suburban development surrounding the new campus.



• The new Montezuma Mesa SDSC Campus opened in 1931 in the depths of the Great Depression. Financial difficulties forced Bell to withdraw his support and the resort plans fell through. The 3-story Bell-Lloyd building formerly located where the new trolley station is buried today, was the only piece of Bell’s plans for a “Westwood-like” commercial development north of Montezuma along College Avenue.
• Lloyd was able to build one tract of the proposed College Park residential tract along College Avenue south of Montezuma Road to Pontiac. Today along College Avenue and Cresita Drive are a few of the larger, 1930s Revival Style homes that Bell and Lloyd had thought would surround the new campus.



• After World War II, the growing SDSC community spread west to 55th Street along Linda Paseo and Hardy Drives (College Park Unit 3) and south of Montezuma in the College Heights tract between 54th and Campanile Drives.



• The original homes in College Park #3 and College Heights were mostly minimal Contemporary and typical Ranch Style 1950s tract homes—but one lot on Dorothy Drive features famous Los Angeles’ modernist architect Craig Ellwood’s only San Diego project.

More Information links:

• College Area Community Council (CACC) Website on CollegeNeighborhoods.com
• SDSU Website
  

College Area Overview/Background:

The College Area Community is located in the central part of the City of San Diego, the mid-city region, along the southern rim of Mission Valley and approximately eight miles northeast of the downtown area. It is a residential community, which is also home to San Diego State University, (SDSU), which was formerly San Diego State College and previous to that San Diego State Teachers College, which the area is still named after.

The College Area Community developed slowly during the early 1930s. The first subdivision maps occurred along El Cajon Boulevard and along Adams Avenue in the vicinity of 55th Street, in the vicinity of 63rd and Stewart Streets and along Cresita Drive, Lindo Paseo and Hardy Avenue. In 1931, the State Teachers College, (later San Diego State University), relocated in the College Area from its former Normal Street location.

Redevelopment of SDSU and University controlled property, beginning in the 1990's, caused intensification of uses in the community near the campus, which is ongoing and includes the extension of the San Diego Trolley through the community with two stations: one on campus at SDSU and one opposite Alvarado Hospital on Alvarado Road. A second redevelopment project is currently proposed, which would redevelop the commercial core along El Cajon Boulevard.

There is also an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in the area near Congregation Beth Jacob Orthodox Temple on College Avenue.