Little Italy's newest apartment complex nears completion

Little Italy’s newest apartment complex in two years already has less expensive rent than its neighbors, but apartments are smaller and farther from the action.

The Ancora building’s 120 studios, which average 479 square feet, are around $2,700 a month, said real estate tracker CoStar, about $100 less than the average rent for a studio in Little Italy — one of San Diego’s most desired neighborhoods.

Little Italy tends to have some of the most expensive rents in San Diego, not the place to go if you are on the hunt for a deal, and other new buildings tend to charge much more. For example, the newest apartment building before Ancora, the nearby 395-unit Simone complex on Union Street that opened in 2023 , charges an average $3,096 a month for a studio.

Musashi Liu, director of developme