{"id":248409,"date":"2026-04-02T12:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/248409\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:54:14","slug":"that-mysterious-vacant-lot-at-the-south-park-target-may-finally-be-filled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/248409\/","title":{"rendered":"That mysterious vacant lot at the South Park Target may finally be filled"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>The South Park Target store, as seen on March 31, 2026 through the chain link fence that surrounds the foundation of a long-delayed project. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

After nine years in limbo, construction could soon resume on a seemingly abandoned corner of the South Park Target lot \u2014 a fenced-in foundation strewn with metal rods, PVC pipes, cinder blocks and overgrown weeds.<\/p>\n

The owner, Saad Hirmez, is resuming his plans to build a one-story structure with OceanAir Credit Union as its primary tenant, along with DMV and insurance services and a cafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you hear anything about [the construction] being abandoned, or that no one cares, that\u2019s not true,\u201d Hirmez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s no surprise that the unfinished building raised questions from locals, given years of delays and inactivity. The city began its review of the new plans a month ago, following a series of permit applications, expirations and cancelations.<\/p>\n

Hirmez submitted his initial application<\/a> in 2017, but it expired the following year before city staff issued a permit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2018, the city issued a right-of-way permit<\/a>, allowing Hirmez to configure the site for infrastructure like utilities, sidewalks and gutters. Hirmez said all of that necessary work is complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until May 2020 that he broke ground on initial construction<\/a> of the building, after the city approved his follow-up application for the expired 2017 request . <\/p>\n

But that also did not lead to a finished building. A spokesperson for the city\u2019s development department said that permit expired in 2025 after Hirmez failed to complete necessary inspections.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Homes across from the South Park Target store on March 31, 2026 have a direct view of the unconstructed and weed-strewn foundation of a long-delayed project. (Photo by Adrian Childress\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

He opened another building permit in September 2025, but canceled it the following month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hirmez said he experienced severe medical complications over the past six years, which delayed the project. Now, he\u2019s ready to see it through.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of been a nightmare,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that it\u2019s taken so long. It\u2019s been a very slow process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Construction can\u2019t resume until Hirmez receives yet another fresh building permit. He said he couldn\u2019t renew the 2020 approval and needed to start over because his plans no longer aligned with city engineering codes, which are updated every three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He submitted his latest application<\/a> in February, and city staff is currently reviewing it, the city spokesperson confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part has been done,\u201d Hirmez said, referring to the right-of-way permit construction, which required closing off streets and completion of traffic control operations.<\/p>\n

He anticipates construction taking between 8 to 12 months before the credit union is open to the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The South Park Target store, as seen on March 31, 2026 through the chain link fence that surrounds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1335,74,76,75,6334],"class_list":{"0":"post-248409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-development","9":"tag-san-diego","10":"tag-san-diego-headlines","11":"tag-san-diego-news","12":"tag-south-park"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}