As part of the Port of San Diego's plan to refresh downtown's struggling Seaport Village, new local tenants are being signed on to open outposts in the bayfront walking mall, including Mr. Moto Pizza House, Mike Hess Brewing, City Tacos, and Spill The Beans Coffee.
Aiming to bring more business to the sprawling downtown property, the Port of San Diego is spending $2.3 million to refresh the Seaport Village shopping center and add new local tenants. The Port is currently negotiating leases with Mr. Moto Pizza House, Spill The Beans cafe, and a combination tasting room and eatery from Mike Hess Brewing and City Tacos.
San Diego's burgeoning Verant Group of bars & restaurants opened Spill The Beans coffee house in summer 2017 as an adjacent, morning-focused concept to compliment its The Smoking Gun. The cafe offers a menu of freshly made "California-style" bagels in non-traditional flavors and playful coffee creations from San Diego's Dark Horse Coffee Roasters. In addition to a creative variety of housemade cream cheeses, the eatery also offers infused compound butters and a menu of breakfast sandwiches. The new location of Spill The Beans will fill a key boardwalk vacancy in the Lighthouse District of Seaport Village.
Founded in 2010, Mike Hess Brewing has craft beer tasting rooms in Miramar, North Park, Ocean Beach, and a combination oceanfront eatery and tasting room with a kitchen helmed by City Tacos that opened earlier this year. Like the South County branch, the Seaport Village location will offer water views and house a beer tasting room, patio area and taco bar from City Tacos, which is currently in the process of an aggressive local expansion.
In addition to seeking local companies to fill property vacancies, the Port is using empty storefronts for new endeavors like a podcasting studio that can be reserved and used for free, an artist studio space, and an art exhibit that includes a "sardine bar" with a giant electric shark. Future plans to completely redevelop Seaport Village have been proposed in recent years and may include an aquarium, a Ferris wheel, a public seafood market, a new hotel and event center, and more.
Seaport Village is located at 849 W. Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. For more information, visit seaportvillage.com.
Mr. Moto was founded in Pacific Beach in 2015 by Gibran Fernandez, a San Diego native who started in the pizza business at the age of 23 working for La Jolla's Pizza On Pearl, which was owned by Girban's Uncle Aram Baloyan who also has ownership interests in The Taco Stand chain and La Jolla's Himitsu sushi restaurant. Mr. Moto Pizza House has since expanded with locations in North Park, Point Loma, Ocean Beach, and another in La Jolla where it took over Baloyan's Pizza On Pearl. Mr. Moto is expected to take over the Seaport Village space last occupied by Asaggio Pizza Pasta Plus.
Founded in 2010, Mike Hess Brewing has craft beer tasting rooms in Miramar, North Park, Ocean Beach, and a combination oceanfront eatery and tasting room with a kitchen helmed by City Tacos that opened earlier this year. Like the South County branch, the Seaport Village location will offer water views and house a beer tasting room, patio area and taco bar from City Tacos, which is currently in the process of an aggressive local expansion.
In addition to seeking local companies to fill property vacancies, the Port is using empty storefronts for new endeavors like a podcasting studio that can be reserved and used for free, an artist studio space, and an art exhibit that includes a "sardine bar" with a giant electric shark. Future plans to completely redevelop Seaport Village have been proposed in recent years and may include an aquarium, a Ferris wheel, a public seafood market, a new hotel and event center, and more.
Seaport Village is located at 849 W. Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. For more information, visit seaportvillage.com.
