The owner and developer of a massive proposed ADU project in Pacific Beach, known as Chalcifica, has released new plans for the two parcels, plans the developer hopes residents will embrace.
The new proposal comes as Chlacifica’s owner — Infill Innovation, formerly SDRE — is stuck in a legal battle with a resident group over the company’s old plans to build a 136-unit ADU project on two parcels located at Pacifica Drive and Chalcedony Street in PB.
“Our goal is to move forward with a project that adds much-needed attainable housing units in Pacific Beach while addressing concerns so everyone can benefit,” Infill Innovation CEO Brian Doyle told Times of San Diego.
Doyle shared the latest renderings of the proposed multi-ADU project.
The new proposal reconfigures the site, moving the buildings and parking away from what may be culturally sensitive lands and redesigning the large block-like apartment-style buildings into six buildings with 125 total units.
In addition to reconfiguring the site and the buildings, Doyle says the new vision for the property includes 56 more parking spaces, increasing the total from 70 parking spaces to 126 spaces.
“I understand the concerns that neighbors had about parking, and I understand the need to preserve the culturally sensitive habitat on this site,” said Doyle. “We went back and looked at the project, at the property. In this new design, we keep the same access points that currently exist to minimize the impact on the culturally sensitive habitat. We reduced the number of units and increased parking, moving the parking area off the culturally sensitive habitat.”
The developer released the new design while a temporary court order remains in effect, blocking any work on the two-parcel site.
In August 2025, the group “Neighbors for a Better Pacific Beach” sued the city and Infill Innovation’s predecessor, SDRE, and its former CEO, Christian Spicer, to stop the project.
In a preliminary decision in December, a California Superior Court judge sided with the resident group, temporarily halting construction as the court case moved forward.
Since the court order, Doyle says his company, Infill Innovation, has taken over and that Spicer no longer works for Infill Innovation, Inc. or any affiliated companies. Spicer, however, remains a minority shareholder.
“We want to turn the page from the past,” said Doyle. “In many ways, I understand the neighbors’ frustrations, but this is a new company with a new direction and experienced leadership driving it. We want to work with neighbors and the city to bring something that everyone can benefit from.”
Neighbors, however, say their concerns with the proposal go far beyond what a simple redesign can fix.
“The new renderings Infill provided of their now modified 125-unit project, Chalcifica, are nothing more than a window-dressing spin to offset reports of squatters and illegal activities taking place on its incomplete and unrented bonus ADU projects throughout the city,” said Merv Thompson, a PB resident and the representative for the group suing the ADU developer and the city over Chalcifica.
“The renderings themselves are a fictional fantasy,” he said. “By definition, ADUs must be accessory to a residence. No residence is shown.”
Without a new discretionary permit for a single-family home, Thompson argues the developer cannot promise a park and 125 ADUs built on what the group argues is historic Kumeyaay land.
” Let’s be honest, what Infill continues to propose is a disguised apartment complex at market rates posing as a cluster of granny flat ADUs,” he said. “And it wants the city to fast-track this mess through a city-approved ministerial process.”
Thompson said that despite efforts to work with the community, the project has still been the subject of police calls and the area is littered with broken glass, overgrown weeds and unsightly fencing.
“The bonus ADU program has been a disaster for our neighborhoods, pushed through by the city government,” Thompson said. “It’s up to the city to clean up this crisis of its own making.”
