In the works for 17 years, Ballpark Village in Downtown San Diego's East Village finally broke ground yesterday. The 3.2M SF mixed-use, master planned development is on 7.1 acres at Park Boulevard and Imperial Avenue. Ballpark Village developer JMI Realty developed the adjacent Petco Park and is now working with the San Diego Chargers on developing a new downtown stadium-convention center, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Designed by Carrier Johnson + Culture, the 24-block residential-retail district includes 439 luxury residential units in a 37-story tower and 274 additional units in six- and seven-story low-rise buildings. The $250M residential component is being developed by South Carolina-based Greystar, a residential real estate investor/developer. Rents are expected to average between $2k and $3k for units ranging from 539 to 1,502 SF. The developer will provide 27 affordable units. The development includes 45k SF of shops and restaurant space built along L Street and Park Boulevard, surrounding a 12k SF open-air central plaza leading to the Petco Park main gate. JMI has proposed a 1,600-room hotel on a site between Imperial and Harbor avenues, but the project’s fate won’t be decided until voters decide on the Charger stadium-convention center project.

Ballpark Village will add about $1.5B in construction activity to the Downtown market and create 750 construction and 230 permanent jobs. [SDUT]