A very new look for old Horton Plaza!

Horton Plaza, the colorful old shopping mall that once attracted crowds to downtown San Diego, is now being redeveloped into a brand new mixed-use research campus called Horton.

I walked past the north entrance of the original Horton Plaza this morning. And look what I saw!

That’s very different from how things originally appeared! You can see the change in the next photograph that I took in 2014, while a small demonstration house was being built by Habitat For Humanity in nearby Horton Square…

Next is a photo I took in 2020 while Horton Plaza’s redevelopment was getting underway…

And here comes a photo taken later that year after the north entry’s original façade was entirely removed…

And now, here’s how things appears today!

This morning, after taking photos of Horton’s new north entrance, I proceeded south down First Avenue along the project’s west side, until I reached Horton’s southwest corner at G Street…

The Horton website provides an idea of how the interior of the complex will appear when completed. As you can see, some of the fun architectural elements of old Horton Plaza will be retained.

UPDATE!

In July 2023 I was walking down Fourth Avenue when I noticed the Balboa Theatre, at the northeast corner of old Horton Plaza, has been painted mostly white!

The new paint job will make it fit in with the rest of Horton’s white exterior. But is this an improvement?

Here’s how the Balboa Theatre used to appear…

…

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