Grover Beach · City of Grover Beach
Mixed-use development at 261 Rockaway Avenue
261 Rockaway Avenue, Grover Beach, CA
The pin marks a representative location from the cited records, not a verified construction footprint. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Summary
A five-story mixed-use building is approved for 261 Rockaway Avenue in Grover Beach, a lot behind the three-story buildings that front West Grand Avenue. The City describes the project as 900 square feet of commercial space and 20 residential condominiums. The applicant is Empire Development. The approved building is 55 feet tall, with ground-floor parking, a commercial suite and four homes on the second floor, and 16 homes on the third through fifth floors, each with a private balcony. Two of the homes are deed-restricted for very low-income households, which earned the project a 46.25 percent density bonus under State Density Bonus Law along with a waiver of the City's building transparency standard.
The Planning Commission approved Development Application 24-54, a vesting tentative map (Tract 3244), coastal development permit and use permit, on September 2, 2025 by a 4-1 vote, finding the project exempt from environmental review as infill development. An appeal was filed on September 15, 2025. City staff recommended that the City Council deny the appeal and uphold the approval at a public hearing on November 10, 2025; the City's tracker records design approval on that date.
The City's 2025 General Plan Annual Progress Report, published in March 2026, lists the project as entitled and under building permit review, and the tracker, updated October 14, 2026, lists it under building review. No building permit or construction is documented in the records reviewed.
Documented scope
- Homes
- 20 residential condominiums [1]
- Affordable homes
- 2 very low-income units (46.25 percent density bonus) [3]
- Commercial space
- 900 square feet [1]
- Stories
- 5 [1]
- Height
- 55 feet [3]
Milestones
- Planning Commission approved Development Application 24-54 (Tract 3244, coastal development permit and use permit) on a 4-1 vote. [3]
- Appeal of the Planning Commission approval filed. [3]
- City Council public hearing on the appeal, with staff recommending denial of the appeal; the City's tracker records design approval on this date. [3]
- City's annual report lists the project as entitled and under building permit review. [2]
- City development tracker lists the project under building review. [1]
Dates are shown with the precision the source gives: a month or a year when the record has no exact day.
What changed
- The City's tracker lists the project under building review; no building permit has been reported issued. [1]
- The City's annual report listed the project as entitled and under building permit review. [2]
What the records leave open
- The Council's decision on the appeal is reported by the City's tracker as design approval on November 10, 2025 and by the annual report as entitled; the adopted resolution itself was not reviewed.
- The City's tracker also still shows the project in its planning-review section, which appears to be a leftover entry from before the approval.
- Being listed under building review does not establish that a permit has been issued or that construction has begun.
More in Grover Beach
Sources
- Current Development Projects (city development tracker), City of Grover Beach Community Development Department, October 14, 2026 (checked November 5, 2026) Online map last updated October 14, 2026.
- 2025 General Plan Annual Progress Report, City of Grover Beach Community Development Department, March 2026 (checked November 5, 2026) Table 6, Status of Major Development Projects (listed as 261 Rockaway Residences).
- City Council staff report: appeal of the Planning Commission approval of Development Application 24-54, 261 Rockaway Avenue, City of Grover Beach, November 10, 2025 (checked November 5, 2026) Agenda item 6. Only the staff report portion was read; the attachments were not reviewed.
Research reviewed November 3, 2026. Page content reviewed November 5, 2026. Guide last updated November 5, 2026. Research last reviewed November 3, 2026; records cover November 3, 2021 to November 3, 2026. How the guide is built, and what it does not cover.
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