Escondido council approves conversion of Juniper Street office to 32 apartments

City planning staff recommended—and the Escondido City Council approved—plans to convert an existing 30,000-square-foot office building at 332 South Juniper Street into 32 residential units, including a density-bonus request that would deed-restrict eight units for low-income households.

Ivan Flores, principal planner, told the council the site is on the city’s suitable-sites inventory in the downtown specific plan area and that the permitted base density is 30 units. Under state density-bonus law and the Escondido zoning code, the applicant requested incentives and two bonus units for a total of 32. Flores said staff determined the project meets a Class 32 CEQA exemption for infill development and that the staff-development committee (including utilities, fire, building and engineering) found granting the incentives would not harm public health and safety.

The applicant described his prior experience converting nearby office buildings to housing and said the proposal provides 45 off-street parking spaces—five more than the code requires—and modest exterior updates while retaining building materials.

Council members cited the project’s contribution to the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) goals and its addition of deed-restricted low-income units. After public questions confirmed the building is currently vacant save for short-term police training use, the council voted 5–0 to adopt the ordinance and associated resolution approving the project.

The staff report referenced ordinance number 2026-05 and resolution 2026-40 as the legal instruments to approve the project; staff said they would record conditions of approval and implement the required density-bonus deed restrictions and monitoring.