America Plaza Station opened on November 14, 1991 (Dirk Sutro, "America Plaza Is the Standout of S.D. High-Rises", The L.A. Times October 31, 1991 Link) and is located along a short stretch of private ROW where I assume the tracks were relocated to during the construction of San Diego's tallest building, One America Plaza.
Starting from when the station opened until 2012 both the Blue Line continued through the station to Santa Fe Depot and later to Old Town (although during rush hours every other train terminated here giving service to stations south of here 7.5 minute headways and north every 15 minutes) and the Orange Line Service continued south along the Waterfront Line looping around to 12th/Imperial Transit Center. Starting on September 2, 2012 the station became the terminus of the Blue Line. These trains terminated on the west platform (closest to Santa Fe Depot) while Orange Line trains always using the track closest to the office building. These trains ran bi-directionally normally sharing the same track here into their terminus at Santa Fe Depot. Starting in 2013 the signs now are all seperated by platform with only Blue Line signs on its platform and Orange Line signs on its platform. On June 11, 2017, the Orange Line was pushed back across the street from terminating at Santa Fe Depot to America Plaza. Finally, on April 11, 2018, Orange Line service was discontinued to America Plaza for good, with trains pushed back a further 2 blocks to the newly built Courthouse Station, a single platform on a seperate siding track for terminating Orange Line trains.
The station became an intermediate stop on the Blue Line again on November 21, 2021 when the extension to UC San Diego and UTC opened. With Blue Line trains re-extended to Old Town (now-sharing the line with the Green Line) and onto the new 10.9 mile ong Mid-Coast Corridor Transit Project.
The station is located on a section of track where trains curve slightly south before reaching the interlocking to Santa Fe Station or the Waterfront/Bayside Line. The eastern end of the station has the tracks in the median of C Street and begins just beyond the grade-crossing with India Street. The western end is at Kettner Blvd just north of the intersection of Broadway, a street the tracks follow the short final distance west before reaching the interlocking to the Waterfront Line or around to the trackside of the Santa Fe Depot who's frontside is directly across from this station, making the two trolley stations the closest together in the system. The station itself has two curved side platforms that are between One America Plaza (on the south side) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (on the north side). The platforms have a three story silver half-arched roof ceiling with plenty of glass skylights and windows allowing natural light into the atrium feel. There are also a few shops along both platforms.
Photo 1-10 taken on 15 March, 2008; Photos 11-16 taken on 20 March, 2011; 17: 21 March, 2011; 18-20: 23 March, 2011, 21-26 on 22 June, 2013, 27 & 28 on 23 June, 2013; 29-36: 28 December, 2019
Santa Fe Depot