A former hospital opened in 1950 as Palomar Memorial Hospital. A tower addition, McLeod Tower, was completed in 1974. The hospital was renamed to Palomar Medical Center in 1987.[2] It was known as Palomar Medical Center Downtown Escondido and housed psychiatric and rehabilitation wards. It started closing in 2015, and permanently closed in late 2020.
From late 2021 to early 2022, the old hospital campus was slowly demolished and will now be replaced by Palomar Heights, a mixed use/senior living/apartment complex. To safely take down the building, heavy asbestos abatement was performed by workers as the building was built in the ‘50s and contained asbestos insulation.