The Chula Vista Bayfront's First Real Summer: What's Open, What's Coming, and Where Locals Should Actually Go

The fences that stood along E Street for more than a decade are down. The palm-lobbied atrium at Gaylord Pacific has been open for just over a year. A block north, orange construction mesh went back up in March around what used to be Bayside Park. If you live in Chula Vista and you have been driving past the bayfront wondering whether it is finally worth walking, the honest answer is that summer 2026 is the strange, useful window between the ribbon cuttings and the finish line. The postcard version arrives later. The version that belongs to residents is happening now.

One year in, and the fences are already moving again

The Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center opened on May 15, 2025 and became the largest hotel in California upon its opening, a $1.3 billion project that created 4,000 jobs for the area between construction and permanent staff positions. That opening was the loud milestone. The quiet one came on March 3, 2026, when the Port of San Diego and the City of Chula Vista officially broke ground on the Harbor Park Improvements Project, with local officials including Mayor John McCann on hand, to add new amenities and improvements to the Chula Vista Bayfront by expanding the park, formerly known as Bayside Park, from 12 to 25 acres in phases to avoid impacting beach and bay access.

That two-step matters for how you plan a weekend. The resort side of the bayfront is polished and running. The public-park side is still becoming itself. The new playground is expected to be completed at the end of 2026, while the splash pad is expected to be finished next spring. Treat this summer as the last one before the crowds figure it out.

What's actually open to walk into right now

If you have not been down since the Gaylord opened, here is the current shape of the walkable bayfront, west to east:

1. Sweetwater Park. Enjoy biking, walking, bird watching, nature viewing, public art, and more at the Port of San Diego's largest park. Sweetwater Park is a designated passive park. Events and organized activities are not permitted. The park sits at 845 E Street, Chula Vista, CA 91910, hours 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., with free parking available. Come for the marsh views and the truss pedestrian bridge over the F & G Street inlet, not for a birthday party.
2. Sweetwater Bicycle Path and Promenade. The route connects Bayside Park, the marinas, and more to the Living Coast Discovery Center and the Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay RV resort in the northern area of the Chula Vista Bayfront, and links directly into the Bayshore Bikeway if you want a longer ride north.
3. The Gaylord Pacific public promenades. To ensure connectivity to the wider bayfront, the venue also has many public amenities including pedestrian promenades, bicycle access, a variety of food and beverage offerings, game activities, a nature playground, and more. You do not need a room key to walk the outdoor esplanade or to look at the bay from the terraced lawns.
4. The Living Coast Discovery Center, still the anchor for anyone with kids who want to see a sea turtle before lunch.
5. The Chula Vista Marina, which is where Michael Jimenez, owner of Chula Vista Watersports, is now a vendor for the hotel and will provide kayak and paddleboard rentals to guests. Jimenez has partnered with the Chula Vista Parks and Recreation Department to provide lower prices for residents so they too can enjoy the bayfront. If you have a Chula Vista address, ask about the resident rate before you book online.

The Gaylord waterpark itself is a separate calculation. The 4.25-acre area houses five pools, a lazy river, multiple waterslides and a wave pool on top of the standard poolside services like rentable private cabanas. The water park will be limited to registered guests only, but hotel officials say day passes will be available for purchase so locals can access its attractions. However, details about pricing and how to book these passes have yet to be finalized. Call before you drive over with towels.

August 22 is the date on the calendar

The single event most likely to bring the bayfront back into everyone's weekend rotation is not a resort promotion. It is HarborFest. After a seven-year hiatus, Chula Vista HarborFest returns to the bayfront in 2026, reimagined and refreshed. Making its long-awaited comeback since 2019, HarborFest sets sail once again as South Bay's signature waterfront celebration where the community's love of maritime culture, live entertainment, and family-friendly summer experiences collide.

Mark it: Chula Vista's HarborFest returns along the newly revitalized South Bay waterfront, bringing a full day of free seaside activities, live entertainment, artisan vendors and family-friendly programming to the beach, 10 a.m., Chula Vista Waterfront, cvharborfest.com, 8/22. Before that, the Port hosted its free "A Day at the Park", a FREE family-friendly multicultural celebration at Bayfront Park on the Chula Vista Bayfront on Saturday, June 20, featuring local food vendors, entertainment, performances, and activities for kids of all ages, which is the sort of programming residents can expect to see return as the park expansion opens in phases.

Third Avenue is catching the spillover

The bayfront is not the only address feeling the shift. Two miles east, downtown Chula Vista's Third Avenue has been steadily adding rooms at the table. The clearest example is Suzette. After more than a decade away from the local dining scene, restaurateur Jerome Gombert is back with Suzette, a French restaurant that brings authentic flavors and European style to Downtown Chula Vista. The new eatery opened its doors at 310 Third Avenue, offering breakfast and lunch service Wednesday through Sunday. Around the corner, one of the most significant changes in downtown Chula Vista is the transformation of Farmer's Table into Acqua E Farina Trattoria Romana. This new Italian restaurant promises to bring a slice of Rome to the South Bay, offering fresh pasta, table-side cannoli, and even vintage-style dessert service. Add in Tender Hooligan for coffee and Mujer Divina Coffee & Burritos, and Third Avenue reads less like a commuter strip and more like a weekend loop.

Retail is following the same pattern. Luna Grill is taking a 1,449-square-foot space in a busy shopping center at Broadway and H Street, and out east, Yard House at the Otay Ranch Town Center is expected to open in September. None of these are destination-scale on their own. Together they answer the question of where to eat before or after the drive to the bay.

The construction map, translated

If you want a single mental model for what is under scaffolding and what is not, here is the state of play as of this writing:

Open now. Gaylord Pacific resort, restaurants, and public promenades. Sweetwater Park and its promenade. The marina. Living Coast Discovery Center. Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay RV Resort.

Under construction, phased through 2027. Harbor Park's south phase. Harbor Park is bringing a nautical-themed playground with climbing structures and a splash pad with outdoor rinse showers to the Chula Vista waterfront. Groundbreaking is set for March 2026. The $10.2-million investment will deliver an inclusive, beautifully designed waterfront space, and a 1,100-square-foot splash pad with user-activated water jets will offer the perfect way to cool off during San Diego's sunny summers.

Planned, not yet vertical. Pacifica Companies is in the planning stages for a residential, hotel and commercial development to be located on a City of Chula Vista parcel near the marinas. The finished project could include 1,500 condos, the first phase of which would be just under 200 units. There will also be up to 420,000 square feet of commercial space, and a 250-room hotel. That is the piece that changes the character of the waterfront from a resort with parks around it to a neighborhood in its own right.

For a house-by-house scale of comparison: the master plan calls for residential areas, office and retail space, 70 acres of new parks and 120 acres of open space for wildlife. Seventy acres is roughly the footprint of five Sweetwater Parks stacked together. The bayfront residents walk in 2030 will not resemble the bayfront residents walk in 2026, and that is worth savoring while it is still quiet.

Why this summer is the one to walk it

There is a specific kind of window that opens when a decade of planning finishes its first, most visible piece and the rest of the plan is still taped to a wall. The Gaylord is running. The park expansion has not yet drawn its full crowds. HarborFest is back on the calendar for the first time since 2019. Third Avenue restaurants have room at the bar on a Friday night. If you already live in Chula Vista, you have the shortest drive, the resident rates, and the least competition for a parking space at Sweetwater. That is the whole thesis. The finished bayfront will be a regional destination. The half-finished one, right now, is a neighborhood asset.

Whether you are simply enjoying a summer at the bay or thinking about what this shift means for your address, Olivia Guinn is happy to talk through what the next few years of Chula Vista change could mean for buyers, sellers, and homeowners already here. Let's Connect.