Restaurant Row sold; plans for San Marcos site remain unknown
The future of Restaurant Row in San Marcos appears uncertain following its sale in December, and business managers at the site say they are in the dark about plans for the property and are even unclear about who now owns the 13-acre site.
A grant deed filed Dec. 31 at the San Diego County Recorder shows the property was purchased by San Marcos Row, a limited liability company. The property had been owned by the Eubank family since the 1970s, and the seller on the document was listed as The Old California Partnership and signed by Robert Eubank and Jerald Eubank.
More than six months after the sale, however, restaurant managers at the property and city officials said they still do not know the person behind the purchase.
Other than the name San Marcos Row LLC, the county document does not disclose the owner. Managers at two restaurants said they have heard rumors, but neither spoke on the record or could confirm the name they had heard. Attempts to reach the person they suggested were unsuccessful.
Phone calls to agents to the tenants’ property manager, Reef Real Estate Services, were not returned after messages were left inquiring about the new owner.
The California Secretary of State’s website shows San Marcos Row LLC was registered Jan. 4, 2021, and it lists its jurisdiction as Delaware but with a Los Angeles address. The website lists the LLC’s agent as Vcorp Services in Los Angeles, but it does not list the owner.
An employee at Vcorp Services contacted by phone said they do not reveal the names of people who own businesses they represent.
Annie Pierce, communications director for the city of San Marcos, said the development services director has not received any information about the sale of the property and there are no applications for its redevelopment.
Restaurant managers asked about what they have heard about the future of the property all said they had received no information.
“I don’t know about it,” said Sublime Ale House general manager Abby Stambaugh. “We’re all in the dark about it.”
Other restaurant managers at the property said the same, but did not want to speak on the record.
Stambaugh said she has been with the restaurant for 10 years and has heard many rumors about plans for the property over that time.
Some of what she heard was more than mere rumors. In 2016, developer John Clement announced he was working with Robert Eubank on a major overhaul of the property.
With visions of creating a “lifestyle center” that would attract a younger crowd, the plan called for a pathway connecting Restaurant Row with Edwards Theater, a grand promenade, open patios and a public gathering area.
The site would have become a mixed-use property with the demolition of a former Sears building next door and construction of a building with retail shops on the ground floor and 120 apartment units above.
The back parking lot would see the additions of a 7,000 square foot and a 12,000 square foot building, while a long narrow building behind San Marcos Brewery would be torn down.
That building was demolished, but none of the other plans came to fruition. Today, the demolition site remains fenced off, and San Marcos Brewery closed in 2020 after 27 years in Restaurant Row, unable to survive during the pandemic shutdown. Other Restaurant Row businesses, such as the steakhouse Ten Twenty Prime, have closed and remain vacant.
Restaurant Row opened in 1978 at a time when San Marcos Boulevard was a two-lane farming road and the city had more than 20 chicken ranches but only 15,000 residents. The project was the vision of Los Angeles developer Jim Eubank, a former WWII commando and world champion swimmer who moved to San Marcos in 1972. Via Vera Cruz, the road running alongside the project, is named after his wife, Vera.
Restaurant Row became an icon in the city, and Eubank continued to manage the property until stepping down after suffering a stroke in 2003. He died the following year at 88, and the property had remained a family-run business until its sale last year.