San Diego State football fans were warned three years ago: There would come a day when Snapdragon Stadium parking would be impacted by construction elsewhere on the 135-acre SDSU Mission Valley property.

That day has arrived.

SDSU fans coming to the Aztecs’ season-opening football game Thursday night against Stony Brook will see that ground has been broken on the first phase of residential and retail development , which will include 621 multi-family units along with 30,000 square feet of retail space.

Fencing walls off excavated dirt in the Orange Lot at SDSU Mission Valley. (Kirk Kenney / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Those who attended FanFest two weeks ago noticed a large fenced-off area in the Orange Lot east of Snapdragon Stadium. Additional fencing has since gone up, walling off a g

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