McMillin Unveils "Millenia" and Introduces New Vision for the Future

03.05.2010 – More than 200 elected officials, civic and business leaders from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border packed into Frida’s restaurant in eastern Chula Vista Wednesday night to learn of the plans for The Corky McMillin Companies' new town, designed to be the epicenter of the sprawling Otay Ranch community.

Chula Vista Mayor Cox, along with Scott McMillin, chairman of The Corky McMillin Companies, took turns addressing the enthusiastic crowd before dramatically unveiling the name Millenia to a warm round of applause.

The mayor began her remarks by putting the long planning process in context.

“For the last 20 years, McMillin and the city of Chula Vista have had an extraordinary partnership,” she explained.

Reflecting the clearly forward-looking spirit of the project, she continued, “McMillin has always built for the future, including creating jobs for our kids and our community.”

Scott McMillin elaborated on the ambitious goals Millenia embodies.

“This project is going to be the heart of eastern Chula Vista. We wanted to develop a project where you could do it all: live, work and play.”

Millenia is a 210-acre mixed-use community – roughly the same size as three Qualcomm Stadium footprints. McMillin describes it as a “smart, energy-efficient, pedestrian-oriented, well-planned community that fundamentally changes how neighborhoods are created and thrive.”

A hybrid of suburban and urban neighborhoods, Millenia will be the urban center of the award-winning 23,000-acre Otay Ranch community. It will include more than 3.4 million square feet of commercial space (office, civic and retail) and about 3,000 homes. The San Diego Association of Governments designated Millenia a Smart Growth Urban Center. Attention to practical, livable details throughout Millenia is unmistakable.



“We envisioned a dynamic and energetic community, that is safe and secure, accessible and optimistic,” explained Todd Galarneau, McMillin’s project manager. “Millenia will have a strong employment and civic component, and a variety of housing types in a series of compact, walkable districts.”

“What’s great,” exclaims Galarneau, “is that the entire community is woven together with parks, plazas, town squares, biking and walking paths that offer recreation, relaxation and socializing.”

Not only is foot travel enjoyable and convenient, but transit is too, by virtue of Millenia’s central location. Adjacent to the state Route 125 and on a planned express transit route, Millenia will link downtown San Diego with the international border.

“Millenia is a regional center as much as it is a neighborhood. It’s a new way of building community,” Galarneau added.

Millenia is pioneering the integration of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards and goals at a neighborhood design level, one that is less dependent on cars and more people friendly. One simple example: making walking easy and fun will get people out of their cars for community trips. Fewer drivers mean less air and water pollution. It’s so innovative, in fact, that the design is part of a national research project by the National Energy Research Center’s Center for Sustainable Communities, the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission.

“Tonight is the story that the partnership between business organizations, the city and the community can create opportunity and a place that everyone has been dreaming about for the last twenty years,” McMillan said. “Because of the great community and the civic support, this project was possible.”



Founded in 1960 by Corky McMillin and now celebrating it’s 50th year, The Corky McMillin Companies has built more than 30,000 homes, 16 mixed-use master-planned communities, more than 20 community parks, college dormitories and 2,000 military residences on seven bases. The company is building in San Diego, Imperial Valley, Visalia and Bakersfield, California, as well as in San Antonio, Texas. The Corky McMillin Companies is also the company behind the redevelopment of Liberty Station, which was voted Base Redevelopment Community of the Year by the Association of Defense Communities. For additional information on the company, go to mcmillin.com or visit www.milleniasd.com for information on the project.

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