What you can do
- Speak at the planning group, Thursday 19 November, 7 pm →
The October meeting was cancelled. Check the posted agenda before you go. City staff will decide this application without a public hearing, so the planning group is the one public meeting where it is discussed. Anyone can speak for two minutes during community forum, at the Serra Mesa–Kearny Mesa Library or on Zoom.
- Read the plans and the City's review comments ↗
A public records request released KB Home's filings and the City's review comments in October 2026. The 33 files are free to download, no account needed. The key ones are on the timeline under "Where it stands".
Where it stands
KB Home wants to build 199 townhomes for sale on about nine acres. They would be in 27 buildings, all three stories tall. Of the 199 homes, 70 have two bedrooms, 99 have three and 30 have four. Every home has a garage, and there are 57 parking spaces for guests.
Eight of the homes, in two buildings, are "shopkeeper units." The person who lives there can run a shop on the ground floor. The shops add up to 14,669 square feet. The City's draft conditions call these commercial condominium units. KB Home has asked the City to call them homes instead.
The site would have two driveways. One opens onto Ruffin Road. The other opens onto Gramercy Drive, where a new raised median would let drivers turn right in and right out only.
Next: City staff will decide whether to approve the project. The City calls this Process 1: there is no public hearing, and you cannot appeal the decision. The City has not said when it will decide.
KB Home applied on May 14, 2025 (project number PRJ-1136506). Since then it has sent the City four rounds of plans. In its latest review comments, dated October 7, 2026, the City closed every review except traffic. The open traffic items are the lane markings for the new median, the sidewalk connections, how far drivers can see at the driveways, and KB Home's requests to skip the City's rules on motorcycle parking and loading zones.
Planning group: On August 20, 2026, the planning group voted 7–0 to write to the Mayor. The letter asked three questions. How can a project this large go ahead without community input? What happened to the $500,000 that a 2004 permit for the site, called Mission Village, set aside? And who will clear the burned Guild Mortgage building?
The Mayor's office replied that the City never collected the $500,000 because the 2004 project was never built. So neither the money nor the community room that project promised carries over to KB Home.
The planning group then posted a letter from February 2007. In it, the City agreed that the 2004 permit had been used, because a parcel map was recorded in 2005. Under the Municipal Code, a permit counts as used once a parcel map tied to it is approved. A used permit stays in force unless the owner asks the City to cancel it. The group's chair is sending the Mayor a second letter about design, public improvements and the process.
The burned building is a total loss. The City opened a code enforcement case (CE-0542361) on July 9, 2026. On August 10 it ordered the owner to clean, board up and secure the property. The owner is waiting for the County to approve asbestos clearance before removing the debris. The City's Development Services Department planned to ask the contractor for a demolition date in the first week of November. These updates come from the Mayor's office, through the community council's November–December 2026 newsletter. No date for clearing the site has been published.
KB Home's filings call this an affordable housing density bonus project. Under state law, a builder that includes some affordable homes can ask to skip some City rules, and KB Home has asked. None of the released files says how many homes would be affordable. KB Home's affordable housing checklist is blank. A note on it says KB Home will fill it in later, and no completed copy is among the released files.
- 2007 letter on the 2004 permit, countersigned by the City
- KB Home's application to the City (PRJ-1136506)
- Affordable housing checklist, left for a later submittal
- Site plan and unit mix (in KB Home's water study)
- Planning group letter to the Mayor
- Mayor's office reply
- Planning group minutes
- City review comments, all reviews
- Mayor's office update on the burned building (newsletter, page 10)
Updated
How it got here
- February 2002 Mission Village Shopping Center demolished by mistake
- March 30, 2004 Council approves Mission Village, with a $500,000 condition
- July 5, 2026 Fire destroys the Guild Mortgage building
- August 20, 2026 The planning group writes to the Mayor about Gramercy Drive
- September 11, 2026 The City replies on the $500,000 and the burned building
Questions
What is happening at the burned-out building on Gramercy Drive?
KB Home has applied to build 199 for-sale homes on the former Mission Village site at 9160–9280 Gramercy Dr. City staff will decide, with no public hearing.