A little more than four months after its splashy debut, San Diego’s Major League Soccer club is ready to build a permanent home for staff, players and future phenoms.
Sunday, the organization unveiled plans to construct a $150 million training complex and Right to Dream youth academy on the northwestern portion of the Sycuan Reservation east of El Cajon.
The plans were cemented last week when the team executed a long-term lease agreement with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation for a 28-acre site within the existing Pine Glen Golf Course at the Singing Hills Golf Resort. of the deal were not disclosed.
“This is such an important project for us,” Tom Penn, CEO of the yet-to-be-officially named team, told the Union-Tribune. “Playing in Snapdragon (Stadium) is one thing, but this is the day-to-day home of our football operation and it means so much to us.”
San Diego’s Major League soccer team, which officially became the league’s 30th franchise in mid-May, is co-owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan tribe. It will begin play in February 2025 at Snapdragon Stadium. Part of the ownership group’s investment includes the Right to Dream academy, an invitation-only youth program that will serve as the team’s homegrown, talent-development factory.
The in-the-works Sycuan campus will bring the entire operation together at one picturesque location around a 25-minute drive from the Mission Valley stadium it does not own.
“One of the tribe’s desires … is to come up with a beautiful campus that is going to complement the beautiful nature of that valley and of the Singing Hills Golf Course,” said Sycuan Tribal Chairman Cody Martinez. “So whether they’re employees or the youth in the academy, it’s going to be a great place for them to be not only training, but spending time in a campus that has such an outdoor appeal.”
At the center of the team’s planned development, designed by Gensler, is an all-new, 50,000-square-foot facility with separate training spaces for professional players and academy , and a shared dining room. The two-story building will open up to two outdoor agility areas; five full-sized training fields, some natural turf and others artificial; and one half-sized, goalie-specific training field.
The training facility, which the organization says will be replete with best-in-league technology, is also being designed to complement the reservation’s remote location and natural beauty.
“The trick for the architects is to do something that’s state-of-the-art, high-performance, but looks like it’s been there for 50 years. Because you want it to nestle in with the rest of the gorgeous land and the mature trees,” Penn said. “It feels like a magical mystical place in the morning when the fog is coming up. It’s just gorgeous. So we’ve challenged Gensler to come up with something that fits in but quietly has all the bells and whistles.”
And, bordered by Dehesa Road to the north and Willow Glen Drive to the west, the project site includes the existing Singing Hills Hotel, with the club planning a major remodel of the property to refashion hotel rooms into a dormitory with 60 units and capacity for more than 100 resident student-athletes, as well as staff living on campus. Other lodge buildings will be turned into school classrooms and office space for team and academy personnel.
The complex will cost $10 million to $12 million per year to operate.
“First and foremost, this project underscores the commitment of the city of San Diego to fostering soccer excellence and talent development at every level. It represents an investment in the future of the sport, providing a world-class environment for both professional and young athletes to hone their skills and fulfill their dreams,” minority club owner and local developer Brad Termini said. “By establishing a state-of-the-art training facility and academy, we are positioning San Diego as a hub for soccer excellence, not just in the United States but on a global scale.”
The project elements and associated environmental impacts were analyzed in a Tribal Environmental Impact Report published in mid-August, a requirement of federal and tribal law. The tribe was also required to complete the environmental analysis prior to entering into a lease agreement with the team.
The report determined that the project would not have a significant impact across a variety of environmental categories. The development will also contribute to a net reduction in average daily car trips to and from the site, decreasing from an estimated 450 car trips per day for the hotel to 197 daily car trips for the soccer complex. Players and staff will, however, use off-reservation roads to access and leave the site, and may experience delays departing the facility during peak evening hours, the report said.
The development also brings an end to the Singing Hills Hotel, which accepted its last guests on Sept. 30. The project will also replace a portion of the Pine Glen Executive Golf Course and a driving range, which is being relocated closer to the river bed. A nine-hole golf course will remain open to the public, a team spokesperson said.
Construction is set to start on the campus next month and the project is anticipated to be completed in time for the 2025 MLS season, Penn said.
