A dead mall
-UPDATE BELOW-
13 September 2025
In all of my years working with the airlines, I never managed to make the trip to San Diego. Part of the reason why, even as a Navy brat growing up in coastal communities, is that I no longer really care all that much for the sun and beaches. I love places more like my own, temperate and with all four seasons. But I still wanted to see the city, and there were two major reasons why. As an airliner enthusiast, the dramatic approach into Lindbergh Field….
...And the place that made its debut more than thirty-five years ago and opened as the centerpiece of downtown in another time and age, the super-regional urban center, Horton Plaza.
1- The spires at Horton Plaza Park. 2- Artwork at the Park. 3 & 4- The façade of Horton Plaza facing the park. 5- Macy’s mall entrance. 6- Inside Horton Plaza.
Years ago when I first saw pictures of the outdoor, urban shopping complex, I was fascinated. The earthy, pastel tones. The geometric shapes used as design elements. The neon accents and dark glass peppered in. Of course, this was the nineties, so that kind of stuff wasn’t outdated yet.
Horton Plaza lease plan, ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.
When I finally got the chance to see the downtown monolith in 2019, I knew that it was already in serious decline. The Nordstrom had closed and Macy’s hung on in its seemingly perpetually precarious position. I needed to see it before, like most malls of its type such as Downtown Plaza in Sacramento and the Saint Louis Centre, it was reduced to dust and photographs. I was lucky enough to capture both before they were gone.
The MC Escher meets the Peach Pit-esque interior of Horton Plaza.
I was greeted by the twin spires of Horton Plaza Park on Broadway. And just behind them was what I though was a rather handsome façade. I was disappointed in a way; I wanted obnoxiously eighties. So I walked under the fuchsia, multi-level skybridge into the empty main corridor of the mall.
I was definitely not disappointed by the interior, which had to have been envisioned by set designers from Saved By the Bell. It was like a marriage of the classics Labyrinth and Ruthless People. But upon a closer look, the vibrant colors were dull and fading. And there were no people anywhere on this gorgeous Saturday afternoon.
Horton Plaza framed by the skyscrapers of downtown San Diego.
Framed by the glass boxes of San Diego’s downtown skyline, Horton is definitely a relic of the past. Its odd angles and split levels were a joy to explore, even though they were reminiscent of Lego being randomly stacked together by a five year old. But I loved all of it. I wish I could have seen this place in its prime; full of everything from business women sporting bulbous shoulder pads to teenagers in Jncos hanging out in the corners. It would have been beautiful.
Horton Plaza made its debut in 1985 and was immediately embraced for its groundbreaking architectural variety. It quickly became the destination in a city already blessed with such treasures as the Gaslamp Quarter and Balboa Park. Its main corridor ran diagonally from northeast to southwest, the latter corner opening into the Gaslamp. The structure contained five inconsistent levels, around 100 stores and just over 750,000 square feet.
1- Jessop's Clock. 2- Bitchin' storefronts on the top level. 3- Horton's crazy angles on display. 4- Random walkways, ramps and escalators abound.
The innovative retail destination debuted with four department store anchors. Mervyn’s original space was on the mall’s west end while Nordstrom’s brutal façades loomed on the southeastern end abutting the Gaslamp. Robinson’s made its home in a separate building where Horton Plaza Park now lays and The Broadway once occupied the walls where Macy's last held residence.
Its centerpiece was Jessop’s Clock, which was moved from the front of the eponymous jewelry store located downtown. The complex saw much growth and success through the rest of the eighties and nineties, but the new millennium provided challenges to it and its downtown located shopping mall peers. Mervyn’s departed in 2005 while Nordstrom hung on until 2016, leaving their hulking storefront as a blank face on G Street. It suffered through several suicides from its top levels, a manhunt for Christopher Dorner and a high profile murder in 2017 before finally closing in 2019.
1 to 4- Empty corridors abound. 5- Nordstrom's label scar on its old store. 6- The monolithic, former Nordstrom's face on G Street.
Macy’s closed their doors after the rest of the mall in 2020. It is now being redeveloped into the Campus at Horton, a mixed-use complex featuring retail and commercial spaces. Demolition began in May 2020. Though it’s sad to see another ground-breaking retail facility be once again rendered obsolete, at least I was finally able to receive the Horton experience one time.
-UPDATE-
-13 September 2025
Not long after my previous visit, Horton Plaza was shuttered for good as a single use retail facility. A partial demolition was begun, which really meant removing all of the motley elements that made the original Horton a distinctive destination and whitewashing what was left.
1 to 3- The north side of the former Horton Plaza including the Balboa Theater. 4 to 8- The former Macy’s and adjacent small shop space.
Though the former groundbreaker hasn’t been officially open for a single day since its 2019 closure, there has been more than enough drama related to the site’s redevelopment. Stockdale Capital Partners, who purchased the moribund shopping mall in 2018, announced their plans soon after Macy’s closed their outlet in 2020.
Immediately after, the conversion to a mixed-use tech hub called The Campus at Horton was started. Forty percent of the original structure was demolished, including the former Nordstrom store on the edge of the Gaslamp Quarter. In its place was built a multi-story office structure clad in white.
The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter and the west side of the former Horton Plaza.
The first phase was scheduled to be completed sometime in 2023, but the deadline passed with the site still clearly in a state of major construction. By early 2025, Stockdale Capital Partners had defaulted on a 360 million dollar loan taken out for the development and the site was put up for auction.
The Campus at Horton pamphlet, ca. 2022. View the full PDF version here.
In August 2025, on my first visit to Horton Plaza since that sunny January afternoon in 2019, I was dismayed at the sight of what was in the past a one of a kind gem for the southern California city. Still surrounded by chain link fences and tarpaulin signs espousing the exciting new development, it was difficult to catch glimpses of what once served as the mall’s main concourse. But what I could see was anything but encouraging.
1 to 3- A peek into what once served as the main southwestern mall entrance to Horton Plaza. 4- The office building standing where Nordstrom once stood. 5 & 6- The southern end of the former center abutting the Gaslamp Quarter.
Just three days before my visit, the auction of Horton Plaza took place. Though the property and adjacent park were valued at almost 140 million dollars, more than 200 million less than the original loan, there were no bidders and the lenders took control of the property. What happens next is anyone’s guess. But no matter what, it’s a sad chapter for what was once a jewel in downtown San Diego.
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