A towering development dispute

The so-called “Turquoise tower” — a 23-story project in North Pacific Beach with 213 units — is about as controversial a housing development as San Diego has seen in years.

And it could be getting even testier.

As our Dave Schwab reports, the city and developer could eventually be headed to court over a dispute over the project’s approval process. Residents have already been rallying against it, because it would be significantly taller than anything in the vicinity covered by the coastal height limit.

Now, the developer is arguing that because the city missed a permitting deadline, the project needs to be automatically approved based on a recent state law intended to fast-track housing developments.

The city, though, says it’s the developer’s fault that they haven’t completed reviewing the project yet. The project doesn’t meet development code, and city reviewers and the developer have been going back and forth to fix the issues, but the developer hasn’t done so, the city says.

In other words, expect to hear more about the “Turqoise tower” dispute in 2026.