ENCINITAS – The developer who purchased Captain Keno’s Restaurant and the nearby Portofino Beach Inn has shared new renderings exclusively with The Coast News, revealing a bright and colorful plan to redevelop Leucadia’s iconic landmarks along Coast Highway 101.
In November, local developer Adam Robinson, owner of RAF Pacifica, purchased Captain Keno’s and Portofino Beach Inn with the intention of redeveloping the properties in the Moonlight mixed-use project.
Robinson had previously told The Coast News that the proposal would meet all development regulations outlined in the city’s general plan, such as being no more than 30 feet in height, to avoid triggering a vote under Proposal A and keep the community-focused project.
The development, a partnership between RPG and architecture firm SmithGroup, will also include two floors of underground parking with hundreds of parking spaces, office spaces and residential “micro-units,” which are smaller apartments and more affordable.
The project will adopt sustainable design strategies, including rooftop solar panels to supplement energy use and power electric vehicle charging stations and gardens “to channel and filter rainwater from a series of pitched roofs, ”according to the SmithGroup design story provided to the city.
Over the past two months, Robinson has shown the new renderings to residents and hopes to receive more feedback.
“I want comments,” Robinson said. “We are ready to implement as much feedback as possible into the project. We’re building that in Leucadia for businesses that want to be in Leucadia.
For example, Robinson said some residents who have seen the renderings have expressed a wish to have more mature trees in front of the property, which Robinson said his staff are currently investigating.
However, Robinson said he wouldn’t expect there to be too many drastic changes in the final build.
“I’m happy to say that – you know I’ve built around two million square feet – generally the real product ends up outperforming the renderings,” Robinson said. “The city could still have some design comments and some colors and things like that, but our ultimate goal is to get the end product really close to these renderings.”
Robinson also said the building’s murals would be specifically related to Leucadia. The murals on the renderings were done by local muralists hired by RPG who will also be working on the final murals.
The project will feature a bar named after its predecessor and longtime Encinitas landmark, Captain Keno’s, which will be demolished for the new development. Robinson purchased the liquor license from former owner Gerry Sova for Keno’s and will incorporate as many memorabilia from the current location as possible.
After securing the necessary permits, Robinson expects the bar to be completed by 2025.
“When we get to the actual design of the bar area, we’ll try to implement it as much as possible,” said Robinson. “I would say at least that we will have memorabilia and photos on the walls, but we will probably also present another aspect of the restaurant”
Interior designs are on the back burner at the moment as RPG works to finalize all exterior designs with the city. RPG is still in its first round of reviews with city staff and will still have to appear before the city’s planning commission before receiving final approval from Encinitas City Council, likely in 2023.
“We’ve got this whole year to go over the entire exterior design,” said Robinson.
RPG also plans to host a public citizen participation program through the city’s development services department in order to get more feedback from residents on the project in the near future.
“It’s something we’ve wanted to own for a long time, so we want it to be high quality and responsive to the community,” said Robinson.
For now, the program has no date but Robinson hopes to have one scheduled in the next 60 days.
