Girard Avenue's Last Holiday Season Before the Streetscape Arrives

The Arcade Building corner of Girard Avenue and Wall Street now has a coffee bar where Peet's used to be. A new sandal shop and a boutique are a few doors away. Overhead there are no catenary lights, the curbs still run straight, and none of the 55 new trees in the Village Streetscape plan are in the ground yet. On paper, the block between Wall and Prospect is ready to be rebuilt. In practice, a federal bidding rulebook is holding it in its current form for one more November and December.

The Paperwork Was Done in August

The La Jolla Community Foundation has worked on the Village Streetscape since 2021. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in July that the project "recently took two steps forward and one step back."

Both steps forward came at the July 16 Enhance La Jolla meeting. Foundation chairwoman Phyllis Pfeiffer told the group, as the Union-Tribune reported, "we have finally gotten through all the city of San Diego requirements, and we will be pulling a permit at the beginning of August." She also announced an $850,000 award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Foundation's project page confirms that the permit was issued in August 2026.

The step back came from that same federal money. Its bidding requirements are more extensive than the state grant's, so the Foundation has to put the project out to bid a second time to protect the $850,000. Pfeiffer said construction would likely start in January instead of August, and she noted that the later timing could work better for local businesses affected by the work.

So the delay is not about money. The July report listed three funding sources alongside its statement that Phase 1 is fully funded:

Reports differ on where the federal grant lands. In March, La Jolla's town news site reported that the $850,000 would go to Phase 2 construction, with Phase 1 already funded. In either reading, the three sources add up to roughly $4.85 million, well short of the $7.43 million headline figure. The Foundation describes $7.43 million as the estimate for the entire project. Phase 1 runs from Prospect Street to Wall Street and has its construction funding committed. Phase 2 runs from Wall Street to Silverado Street and is still raising money. Permits for both phases are complete and the construction drawings are final. Executive director Lidia Rossner described the effort to the Union-Tribune as one reflecting "an extraordinary level of public trust and community generosity."

The project page also contradicts itself on one point. Its overview describes Phase One as Silverado to Prospect, while its "Project at a Glance" list gives Prospect to Wall, which matches the Union-Tribune. This post follows the Prospect-to-Wall version.

Which Storefronts Are Inside the Lines

Addresses on Girard climb as you walk north toward the ocean, and that tells you where the first phase starts and stops. Warwick's is at 7812 Girard and sits just past the Silverado intersection, in the Phase 2 stretch, so its block will keep its current look for longer. The first construction zone begins around La Plaza La Jolla, the open-air galleria at 7863 to 7877 Girard on the Wall Street corner.

North of that corner, the block has changed more in 2026 than the streetscape will change it in the next few months:

• Peet's Coffee to Cala La Jolla Café, 7910 Girard. Peet's had been in the historic Arcade Building since 2017 and closed Jan. 30, according to the Union-Tribune's March business roundup. Cala held its grand opening on a Saturday evening in late June. It offers what the Union-Tribune's June dining column called an "omakase" coffee and matcha experience, plus breakfast, lunch and fresh pastries. It is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
• OluKai, 7884 Girard. Opened May 23.
• Wild Dove Boutique, 7927 Girard. Opened March 17, per the Union-Tribune's June roundup.
• Mahj Theory Collective, 7863 Girard. Opened Aug. 12 at the La Plaza address, per the Union-Tribune's September roundup.

All four opened on a sidewalk that has been permitted for replacement since August. Their first holiday season on Girard will likely be the last one before the block is rebuilt around them.

The Arcade Building corner matters for another reason too. A 2021 account of the plan, published when Phase 1 won approval, described a plaza at the Arcade Building at Girard and Wall. That corner is where the street will change most visibly.

What the Finished Street Adds

The Foundation's design covers the full stretch from Prospect to Silverado, so not every item below lands in Phase 1. Here is what the plan specifies:

• Curb extensions at four crossings. These go at Silverado, Wall, the mid-block crossing on Girard and the south side of Prospect, to calm traffic and shorten crossings.
• Trees. The plan adds 55 new trees to the 40 already there, for 95 street trees in total, plus about 6,668 square feet of new landscaping at the intersections and another 1,500 square feet along Girard.
• Seating. The plan calls for 46 new benches in the style of the existing ones outside Warwick's and Brooks Brothers, plus 195 lineal feet of custom benches at Wall and Silverado.
• Lighting. Catenary lights will hang overhead along the street. Four dark-bronze overhead fixtures at Wall and Silverado can carry banners and seasonal décor, and the mid-block crossing gets added lighting.
• Surface and drainage. The plan replaces 32,848 square feet of asphalt and sidewalk and adds custom cast-iron grates over the drainage channel. Public art is proposed at Wall and Silverado.

The Union-Tribune's summary counts the elements differently, with 63 benches, 49 trees, 51 lights and 9,100 square feet of public space. The figures above come from the Foundation's own project page. After construction, Enhance La Jolla will handle maintenance.

The bronze fixtures connect to this season. Once they are up, holiday décor will hang from posts built for it at the Wall Street intersection. This December, decorations still go up on the street as it stands.

Two Dates on the Current Pavement

Two public events will run through the Phase 1 block before the expected January start:

1. Holiday Open House, Sunday, Nov. 22. The La Jolla Village Merchants Association lists it as a Village-wide event, with participating businesses offering promotions and Santa making rounds. It has no central venue and no published hours, so check the merchants association's fall calendar as the date gets closer.
2. The 70th La Jolla Christmas Parade & Holiday Festival, Sunday, Dec. 6. The parade starts at Kline and Girard, heads up Girard, turns onto Prospect and finishes at the La Jolla Recreation Center at Draper and Prospect. That takes it straight through the block slated for Phase 1. The Holiday Festival at the Rec Center runs 1 to 5 p.m. The official parade site lists the parade start as 1 p.m. in one place and 1:30 p.m. in another, so check the site that week. A volunteer 501(c)(3) foundation runs the event.

If you park on Girard, the timing matters more than the start time. The parade's official no-parking map shows tow enforcement beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Girard between Kline and Prospect, and on Prospect between Girard and La Jolla Boulevard.

After the Parade, the Bid

The next update should come from the Foundation. As of this week, its project page still lists the construction timeline as "to be announced by October 2026." The Foundation's July 16 update said a revised contractor bidding package was being prepared to cover the full scope the federal grant requires. The latest reported forecast is still Pfeiffer's July estimate of a January start.

That forecast fits how the project was planned. Construction was meant to be split so it would not disrupt retailers during the busy summer and holiday months, according to the Union-Tribune's January 2025 report. The federal re-bid cost the project its August start, and the delay moved work into the season the plan had preferred all along. Until a date is announced, the Open House, the parade and a December morning coffee at the Arcade Building corner all take place on Girard as it is today.

When the Foundation announces a start date and the first section of Girard is fenced off, we will follow how the Prospect-to-Wall block changes from week to week. To talk through what the streetscape means for a home or condo near Girard, reach out to the Nelson Brothers Team. Let's Connect.