Hundreds of apartments, hotel, retail approved for Oceanside Transit Center

The Oceanside Transit Center could become a beehive of activity under a plan approved Wednesday to build up to 540 apartments, a 170-room hotel, a multi-story office building, a parking garage, shops, restaurants and more on the 10-acre site.

North County Transit District has pursued the project since at least 2008 as a way to increase revenue from the Tremont Street property and boost ridership on its Breeze buses and Coaster and Sprinter trains. It signed an exclusive negotiating agreement in 2020 with the developer, Toll Brothers Apartment Living.

The Oceanside City Council approved the proposal 4-1 Wednesday. Mayor Esther Sanchez voted no, saying the project could have been better. The plan is expected to go to the California Coastal Commission for a decision early next year.

Most of the Transit Center property is covered by an asphalt parking lot for an Amtrak station and the NCTD ticket offices that will be replaced. It also has a 450-space parking structure completed in 2006 that will not be affected by the redevelopment.

The City Council first considered the plan at a meeting Oct. 9, where after listening to residents’ concerns it postponed a decision to obtain more information. One of the sticking points was a new route for buses leaving the center, which transit officials said is needed with or without the makeover.

Instead of funneling all bus traffic onto Seagaze Drive, the new pattern will use other nearby streets including Missouri and Michigan. Unlike Seagaze, those streets are lined with a mix of older single-family homes and newer condominiums and townhomes, and the residents say the roads are not built to handle the increased traffic.

City and transit officials said again Wednesday the streets will be improved and that the proposed traffic pattern is unlikely to change because, among other things, it reduces walk time for pedestrians making connections at the transit center by as much as 50%.

Another suggestion in October was to increase affordable housing. As a result, the developer boosted it from 10%, the minimum required of the project, to 15%. Oceanside recently raised its minimum to 15%, but the Transit Center application was submitted before the higher limit took effect.

Sanchez said the changes were too few and too late.

“I have to support the neighborhood here,” Sanchez said, adding that she was disappointed that she and the City Council were not consulted more as the transit center plan advanced.

“There are so many ways this could have been a phenomenal project, our crowning glory,” Sanchez said, such as better access into and out of the development for the thousands of residents, passengers and visitors who will use it daily.

Councilmember Eric Joyce suggested requiring the developer to do more work to upgrade the streets around the transit center, but his motion died without support.

“I recognize there are neighbors that are frustrated with the process,” Joyce said. “Communication has not been that great.”

However, new state laws encourage taller, more dense development near transit centers, he said, and if the city turns down this project it could be forced to approve a less desirable one later on.

Other council members and community leaders have said the project is much needed for the jobs, homes and economic benefits it will bring. It includes 83 apartments reserved as on-site affordable housing and is intended to reduce commute times and the overall amount of traffic in the region.

“The vision for a reimagined Oceanside Transit Center is the result of more than three years of public outreach, collaboration and compromise between a diverse coalition of local residents, nonprofits, transit and housing advocates, and of course the city of Oceanside and NCTD,” said Michael McCann of Toll Brothers in a news release.

“Downtown Oceanside has become such a unique destination that deserves a world-class transit center,” McCann said. “We’re proud to be part of the team that will deliver a project that benefits not only Oceanside, but the region as well.”

Also Wednesday, the City Council unanimously approved a related project, plans by Toll Brothers for a seven-story building with 206 apartments on the site now occupied by NCTD’s headquarters at 810 Mission Ave. The agency will move its administrative offices into the new building at the Transit Center.

The Mission Avenue building also will reserve 15% of its apartments as affordable housing for qualified tenants.

G.T. Wharton, a cofounder of the Oceanside chapter of the national housing activist group Strong Towns, spoke in favor of both Toll Brothers development projects.

“This is the only way that cities can be self-sustaining,” Wharton said. “Projects like this allow people to live downtown, go car-free … (and they) create economic activity to fund public services.”

The ground floor of the Mission Avenue building will have a residential lobby, a leasing office, five live-work units and other facilities.

The upper floors will be a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and amenities for the residents. The third floor will have an outdoor deck with seating areas, a lounge, and a swimming pool.