Construction begins at Cardiff Town Center

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer
Restaurants, offices part of $3M in improvements | Tuesday, February 5, 2008 12:15 AM PST ∞

ENCINITAS -- A third phase of remodeling will bring restaurants and offices to the largest shopping center in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, but for now the job has brought noisy demolition and a gaping void in the complex on San Elijo Avenue at Birmingham Drive.

The void used to be a building that housed Yogi's Sports Bar & Restaurant. On Monday, workers used heavy equipment to load the remaining debris as part of the center's $3 million improvement project.

In its place, a two-story building is planned with three spaces for restaurants on the ground floor and five units for offices on the second.

"I think it's a huge improvement," said Barbara Cobb of the Cardiff Town Council, about the planned changes. "The owners, at their own expense, have put millions of dollars into improving what was clearly an outdated center."

The demolition site is on the north side of the block-long complex. During construction, more than a dozen stores, offices and other businesses remain open on the rest of the property.

The center has had a series of face-lifts since boxlike Vons and Value Fair stores opened on the property in 1964.

A major change happened in 1983, when the town center took over with a Cape Cod treatment that applied lap-siding and white trim and trellises to the buildings.

They stayed that way until remodeling started again in 2000 and 2004, when the first and second phases of a three-phase construction program created courtyards and an array of flashy, stucco facades from a color palette that included salmon, olive and eggshell.

The construction included a blend of wood siding, steel accents and vine-covered latticework.

Today, plans for the third and final phase call for a steel-and-glass building that, on the ground floor, would house three restaurants. On a banner attached to a construction fence are the names of two of them: Rimel's Rotisserie and Zenbu Sushi Bar.

A tenant for the third restaurant space has not been found, said Tom McCabe, an architect who is managing the project. McCabe also serves on the Encinitas Planning Commission.

During planning meetings, representatives from the center polled community members, and many responded that they wanted a sushi restaurant, he said.

Plans for the second floor show five offices ranging in size from 756 to 1,994 square feet.

"Hopefully (the office space) will be a place for local guys who've made it big and want to have an ocean view office down from their home," McCabe said.

As an added benefit, he said, the office workers would have access to showers and storage lockers for surfboards.

McCabe said he expects the first tenants to move into the building in October.

That's good news for Cardiff, said the town council's Cobb.

Cardiff, a community of Encinitas that clings dearly to its individuality, is in the midst of debating a plan for its six-square-block business district.

"A vibrant and successful business area improves the property values of the whole community," Cobb said. "What you're doing is updating an area that you want to be inviting."

Earlier remodeling at the town center already has paid dividends, she said, both for merchants and visitors who can find sunny, outdoor spaces in areas that once were covered, chilly and dark.

"On any given, nice day you'll see young mothers and their kids there and that never used to happen," she said.

-- Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 901-4074 or akaye@nctimes.com.

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