Podcast studio? Chula Vista's largest apartment complex in years has some unique amenities
Chula Vista’s largest apartment complex in three years has opened its doors.
Vaya on Axia, with 278 units, will officially open this week with rents starting from $2,625 a month for a one-bedroom to $3,375 for a two-bedroom. The amenity-rich project, with everything from a podcast studio to a karaoke room, is in the Millenia neighborhood, the dense, somewhat urban area inside the 25,000-acre Otay Ranch masterplan.
Vaya is just one of dozens of Chula Vista projects that have opened in the past few years and greatly increased rental options. The city has averaged nearly 1,000 new apartments under construction annually since 2020.
The 480-unit Avalyn apartment complex, a few blocks from Vaya, was built in 2023 and is Chula Vista’s second-largest rental property. The largest remains the Toscana at Rancho Del Rey, with 500 apartments and was built in 1991. A 600-unit project called Enclave Montecito, in the Montecito village of Otay Ranch, is under construction and not expected to open for a year or more.
Developer Ryan Companies built Vaya over two years, with up to 250 workers a day on site at its peak. The complex is spread across four buildings, a mix of three- to four-stories. It had its official grand opening Wednesday but some renters have moved in already. The first building was finished in late November, the second in January and the third last week. A fourth building should be completed by next month.
“To us, it is a well-designed, thoughtfully planned community,” said Daniel Bertao, vice president of development at Ryan Companies, said of Millenia. “We just really like what is going on in Chula Vista.”
Millenia has been under construction for more than a decade on what used to be ranch land. It now includes six market-rate apartment complexes, two rent-restricted apartment buildings, seven condo buildings, the 135-room Ayers Hotel, several parks, retail and Chula Vista’s new 168,000-square-foot Millenia Library (set to open this summer).
Similar to its previous project, Ryan Companies went all-in on amenities for Vaya. The most unique is a 150-square-foot podcast studio that is free for residents. It has acoustic wall panels for better sound, plenty of electrical outlets for equipment, chairs and a TV. If renters don’t have their own gear, they can rent out equipment from the front desk. It also has a glowing “On Air” sign outside the door when in use.
Bertao said some amenities at Vaya could replace other subscriptions, like a gym membership. The complex comes with a two-story gym with all the modern equipment, outdoor workout space, a yoga room, a kids’ room and Peloton bikes.
“We want to give renters the opportunity to lose that membership,” he said of tenants’ gym memberships.
Amenities do come at a cost, with Vaya being one of the more expensive places to rent in Chula Vista. Average rent, across the many unit types, was $3,000 a month for a one-bedroom, said real estate tracker CoStar, and for a two-bedroom, $3,789. There are also 14 three-bedroom units that average $5,088 a month.
Average rent in Chula Vista for a one-bedroom unit in early May was $2,135 a month, said CoStar. It was $2,673 a month for a two-bedroom, and $3,633 a month for a three-bedroom.
There should be more than enough parking for residents - 482 spots - but renters have to pay a monthly parking fee starting at $75. Urban planners across the state have pushed for parking as a separate fee so renters without a car don’t have the added cost of a spot in their rent. However, relying on public transit in the notoriously car-centric Otay Ranch seems unlikely.
Renters in the area can utilize the Rapid 225 bus route but most estimates put the journey around an hour to get downtown in light traffic, whereas a car trip would be roughly 24 minutes. However, the bus has a fairly active schedule: It runs every 20 minutes most of the day, starting around 5 a.m. and going until midnight.
Other amenities at Vaya include a pool and spa, a skydeck with views to the ocean and Tijuana, a coworking space (free to tenants but available to rent for the public), a large mail room, bike storage, dog parks and a 300-square-foot karaoke room with a drink fridge, equipment for singing, large TV and plenty of seats. The project has solar panels on roofs and covering parking lots and gives an energy credit to tenants to reduce their bills.
Vaya looks slightly different than most of Otay Ranch, which is almost entirely homes and apartments with white, stucco exterior walls and a Spanish colonial style roof. Vaya uses bricks throughout much of the project, something more common in the Midwest or East Coast.
“It gives it more of a timeless feel,” Bertao said. “It grounds the building.”
Ryan Companies declined to say what the overall cost of the project is, but industry website Multi-Housing News said it, and partner Strata Equity Group, received an $85.4 million construction financing loan for the complex.
Planning for Otay Ranch began in 1984, and construction largely began in the late 1990s. It has roughly 16,000 homes built with about 12,000 more in the works. Construction on the Millenia portion of the project began in 2013, and Vaya will take up its final multi-family lot.
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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 1:10 PM.