A formal Notice of Trustee's Sale has been posted outside the long awaited Roscoe's at 1678 National Avenue, scheduling a public foreclosure auction for October 19 at 10am. Public foreclosure records list an eye popping $21,179,115 unpaid balance under the underlying obligation, although records reviewed by SanDiegoVille indicate the debt is secured by multiple parcels associated with several Roscoe's related entities rather than solely the San Diego restaurant.
Roscoe's, however, tells SanDiegoVille the auction will not ultimately happen. In a statement provided to SanDiegoVille after we contacted the company about the foreclosure, Roscoe's said it is currently refinancing multiple properties, expects that process to be completed shortly and says the scheduled sale is being withdrawn.
"We are currently in the process of refinancing a number of our properties and expect it to be finalized shortly," Roscoe's told SanDiegoVille. "The notice /sale is being retracted and was posted as a formality."
The company also insists the extraordinarily long awaited San Diego restaurant remains on track to open.
"All is well and on track for opening in a few months in San Diego," Roscoe's said. "We look forward to welcoming current customers and new customers to our almost-finished San Diego location on National Ave in Barrio Logan."
As of publication, however, the publicly available foreclosure listing still shows the property scheduled for sale on October 19. SanDiegoVille has not independently confirmed that the trustee has formally canceled or rescinded the scheduled auction.
The development comes almost exactly one month after SanDiegoVille reported what seemed like a breakthrough in one of the longest running restaurant opening sagas in San Diego history. After years of stalled construction and missed opening dates, Roscoe's had finally installed its massive exterior chicken and waffle sign on the Barrio Logan building.
At the time, we joked that after more than a decade of promises, we'd believe Roscoe's was actually opening when somebody handed us a plate of fried chicken and waffles. Apparently, we were right to wait.
The newest paperwork hanging outside the restaurant isn't a grand opening announcement. It's a foreclosure notice.
The notice states that the borrowers are in default under a deed of trust dated July 11, 2022, which was subsequently recorded on July 22, 2022. Peak Foreclosure Services, Inc. is identified as the trustee, with the proceeding assigned Trustee's Sale No. CA-LOF-26021783. Unless the proceeding is resolved, postponed or canceled, the property is currently scheduled to be offered at public auction.
In an unusual twist, the auction is scheduled to take place on the sidewalk directly in front of the still unopened Roscoe's building at 1678 National Avenue. PropertyShark independently lists the October 19 sale at that location, identifies Waffle Plaza Properties, Inc. as trustor and Peak Foreclosure Services as trustee, and reports the same $21,179,115 unpaid balance. PropertyShark describes the National Avenue property as containing a 7,402 square foot commercial building on approximately 0.42 acres.
That $21 million figure requires some important context. The foreclosure documents indicate this is not simply a $21 million debt against the San Diego Roscoe's building. The deed of trust encompasses multiple parcels associated with several different entities, including Waffle Plaza Properties, Inc., Gower Properties, LLC, Duquesne Properties, LLC, 730 Broad, Inc. and Diego Plate Properties, LLC.
The foreclosure records identify Waffle Plaza Properties as trustor for parcels one and two, Gower Properties for parcel three, Duquesne Properties for parcel four, 730 Broad for parcels five and six, Waffle Plaza again for parcels seven and eight and Diego Plate Properties for parcel nine.
In other words, the approximately $21.18 million figure should not be interpreted as a $21 million mortgage solely against San Diego's unfinished Roscoe's restaurant. It represents the reported unpaid balance associated with an obligation secured by a larger collection of properties.
Roscoe's explanation that it is currently refinancing "a number of our properties" appears consistent with the multi property nature of the foreclosure proceeding, although the company did not provide additional financial details or documentation of the refinancing.
The foreclosure is the latest dramatic chapter in a San Diego expansion that has somehow stretched across three presidential administrations. SanDiegoVille first reported in February 2016 that Roscoe's was searching for a location for its first San Diego restaurant, initially with Mission Valley rumored as a possibility. By that summer, plans had shifted to Barrio Logan, where the legendary Los Angeles soul food institution began pursuing the National Avenue project.
Almost immediately, the expansion became complicated by financial problems. Roscoe's operating company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016 following a multimillion dollar judgment in an employment lawsuit.
Nevertheless, plans for San Diego continued. By 2019, the Barrio Logan project appeared to be moving forward, with plans calling for demolition of existing structures and construction of a substantial new restaurant.
Then came the pandemic. Roscoe's eventually broke ground in 2021, beginning a seemingly endless cycle of projected openings. The restaurant was expected to debut that summer, then later that year, then in 2022 and then in early 2023.
Each projected opening came and went. Construction eventually ground to a halt in late 2022, leaving a partially completed Roscoe's sitting conspicuously along National Avenue and raising questions about whether the restaurant would ever serve a customer.
Then, in spring 2024, construction unexpectedly resumed. By October of that year, Roscoe's posted photographs of the progressing San Diego restaurant and told followers, "See you soon, SD!"
Another year passed. No chicken. No waffles.
But 2026 finally brought visible signs that the decade long ordeal might actually be approaching its conclusion. Construction continued, the building increasingly resembled a finished restaurant and, in September, workers installed an enormous circular Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles sign on the exterior. Recent reporting confirms the signage milestone and the project's decade long history of delays.
For practically any other restaurant, installing a sign would be a mundane construction milestone. For Roscoe's San Diego, it felt almost historic. Now, roughly a month later, a foreclosure notice is taped to the same long awaited property.
Roscoe's says San Diegans shouldn't read the notice as the end of the restaurant. The company says the National Avenue location is "almost-finished," remains on track to open within a few months and that it expects to announce an opening date soon.
"We are excited with the signage that went up a couple of weeks ago and the progress so far and can't wait to announce our upcoming plans and opening date with you soon," Roscoe's told SanDiegoVille.
The company's statement is certainly encouraging for anyone hoping to finally eat chicken and waffles in Barrio Logan, but the foreclosure proceeding is not something that can simply be ignored.
A recorded Notice of Trustee's Sale represents a formal step in California's nonjudicial foreclosure process. At the same time, a scheduled trustee sale is not inevitable. Sales can be postponed or canceled before the auction, including when the underlying default is resolved or the parties reach another financial arrangement.
The notice posted at Roscoe's expressly warns that the sale date may be postponed by the mortgagee, beneficiary, trustee or a court. That distinction is particularly important here.
Roscoe's says the sale is being retracted. Public foreclosure records, as of publication, continue to show it scheduled for October 19.
The notice therefore does not mean Roscoe's has lost the property, nor does it establish that the San Diego restaurant has been canceled. But until the sale is formally withdrawn or canceled, it adds another remarkable layer of uncertainty to a project that has already spent more than ten years redefining the word "delayed."
If the restaurant opens as planned, the Barrio Logan Roscoe's is expected to occupy a substantial multilevel building with dedicated parking and rooftop dining. Its menu is expected to bring the chain's signature fried chicken and waffles to San Diego alongside soul food staples including grits, greens, macaroni and cheese, biscuits and gravy. Roscoe's was founded in Hollywood by Harlem native Herb Hudson in 1975 and grew into a Southern California institution known for its signature combination of fried chicken and waffles.
For now, San Diego is left with two very different indications of what comes next at 1678 National Avenue. One is a formal foreclosure notice scheduling the property for an October 19 auction tied to an obligation with more than $21 million reportedly unpaid. The other comes directly from Roscoe's, which says refinancing is nearly complete, the sale is being retracted and the restaurant will finally open within a few months.
Maybe the refinancing will close and the auction will disappear from the calendar. Maybe Roscoe's will finally announce the opening date San Diego has been waiting more than a decade to hear. At this point, practically nothing would surprise us.
Last month, after the giant Roscoe's sign finally appeared on the building, we wrote that the restaurant could tell us the doors were opening tomorrow and we'd still wait until we saw somebody sitting inside eating a waffle before believing it. Roscoe's now says everything is fine and those waffles are only a few months away.
After ten years, we'll keep waiting for that first plate.
Originally published on October 5, 2026.
