The sudden reversal brings an unexpectedly short conclusion to a project that had been promoted as a celebration of San Diego and Baja California's shared culinary culture. The restaurant was developed through a partnership involving local real estate developer Michael Donovan and restaurateur Collin Corrigan, founder of Ensenada's Cervecería Transpeninsular brewery, with culinary consulting from prominent local chefs Daniel and Dante Romero, who currently own and operate The Lion's Share in downtown San Diego.
The restaurant initially posted a brightly colored announcement to its Instagram account informing customers that it was "temporarily closed" while the team addressed unspecified matters. The message offered little explanation for the interruption but suggested the restaurant intended to reopen.
"We're closed for now while we take care of a few things. We hope to be back soon!" read the initial announcement.
That optimism proved short-lived. A subsequent Instagram post, accompanied by an illustrated farewell announcement, confirmed that the closure would be permanent, with the restaurant acknowledging that it was shutting down after just one year of operations.
"It is with heavy hearts that we announce Una Más on Adams will be closing its doors after just one year in business," the restaurant wrote. "Thank you for the laughs, the memories, the friendships, and all the good times."
The accompanying graphic expressed appreciation for the neighborhood and the community that had embraced the business, thanking customers for their support and acknowledging the restaurant's brief existence. Neither announcement provided a specific explanation for the closure, and the restaurant has not publicly disclosed whether financial difficulties, operational challenges, partnership issues or other circumstances prompted the decision.
The closure is particularly notable given the considerable planning, investment and culinary talent associated with the project, which underwent multiple changes before finally welcoming customers in summer 2025.
The story began in May 2024, when SanDiegoVille reported that developer Michael Donovan of SDPB Holdings, LLC, along with members of his family, intended to open a German-style beer garden at the Adams Avenue property. The project was envisioned as a roughly 3,500-square-foot gathering place, incorporating approximately 1,000 square feet of interior space and a sprawling 2,500-square-foot outdoor patio.
Plans called for a relaxed neighborhood destination serving craft beer, regional wines and California-Mexican-inspired food, with outdoor seating, fire pits and a communal atmosphere. The beer garden was associated with a larger mixed-use development at the corner of Adams Avenue and Hamilton Street.
By April 2025, however, the original concept had been abandoned in favor of Una Más on Adams, a restaurant and bar designed to showcase the culinary and brewing traditions of the San Diego-Baja California border region.
Donovan partnered with Corrigan, a San Diego native who had spent more than two decades living and working in Mexico and established himself in Baja's craft brewing scene through Cervecería Transpeninsular. Corrigan's wife, Gaby Sánchez Corrigan, was credited with helping shape the restaurant's creative vision and colorful aesthetic.
The reimagined concept promised a more distinctive identity than the originally proposed beer garden, emphasizing Baja-inspired cuisine, cross-border craft beer selections, casual dining and a welcoming atmosphere for families, neighborhood residents and their pets.
The project also attracted attention because of the involvement of chefs Daniel and Dante Romero, whose culinary credentials included work associated with San Diego's acclaimed Wormwood restaurant and, more recently, downtown's longstanding cocktail bar and restaurant The Lion's Share. Daniel Romero was identified as the restaurant's executive chef in promotional materials, and the brothers' participation helped generate expectations that Una Más would offer more than typical beer garden fare.
Early plans described a menu blending Mexican street food, Baja seafood and contemporary San Diego influences, including inventive interpretations of familiar dishes. Among the offerings discussed during development were ceviche-inspired preparations, Mexican pizza, loaded yucca fries and other shareable dishes intended to complement a substantial beverage program.
The restaurant was also designed around approximately 20 beer taps, featuring established San Diego breweries alongside producers from Ensenada, Mexicali and Tijuana. A food trailer stationed within the outdoor area provided the kitchen component, reinforcing the casual, festival-like atmosphere envisioned for the property.
Corrigan was enthusiastic about the concept when it was announced, presenting Una Más as an opportunity to share the culinary and cultural connections between his hometown and his adopted home in Baja California.
"Our mission is to present a fun place for all to enjoy in an open relaxed indoor/outdoor environment," Corrigan told SanDiegoVille in April 2025, adding that he believed the location, menu, beverage program and experienced staff would deliver a successful neighborhood gathering place.
After months of development and delays, Una Más finally soft-opened in July 2025 with limited hours and a reduced menu. The opening represented the culmination of a project that had been publicly discussed for more than a year and had undergone a substantial conceptual overhaul along the way.
Despite those ambitions, the restaurant never established the long-term foothold its operators had envisioned. Its permanent closure approximately 15 months after the soft opening raises questions about why a project with a prominent location, substantial outdoor space, experienced restaurant partners and recognizable culinary collaborators proved unable to sustain operations.
The closure also marks another relatively short-lived San Diego County restaurant venture associated with Corrigan.
In October 2020, Corrigan was involved in opening El Cruce + 241, a Baja-inspired restaurant and craft beer destination at 241 Third Avenue in downtown Chula Vista. The concept was intended to introduce South Bay diners to the food, wine and beer of Baja California, including selections from Cervecería Transpeninsular and other Mexican producers.
Like Una Más, El Cruce was built around the idea that San Diego's proximity to Mexico could support a distinctive dining experience celebrating the region's shared culture. Its menu featured Baja-inspired cuisine, while its extensive draft beer program highlighted breweries from south of the border.
El Cruce ultimately changed hands in 2024, when Los Angeles County-based Brewjería Company took over the Chula Vista restaurant and began converting it into Brewjería Taproom & Kitchen.
However, reporting by San Diego Magazine at the time established an important distinction in the restaurant's ownership history: Corrigan had parted ways with El Cruce in 2023, before his former business partner Galen Rogers placed the establishment on the market. The eventual sale therefore cannot be attributed solely to Corrigan, and the business continued operating under new ownership rather than simply shutting down.
Nevertheless, the history of El Cruce and the abrupt closure of Una Más illustrate the difficulties of translating ambitious Baja-inspired hospitality concepts into sustainable long-term restaurant operations in San Diego County.
The Chula Vista location remains in operation as Brewjería Taproom & Kitchen, while Corrigan's Cervecería Transpeninsular continues to be associated with Ensenada's craft beer scene. Una Más, by contrast, is ending its run without an announced successor or reopening plan.
Reaction to the closure on social media has included disappointment from customers who considered Una Más a welcome addition to the Adams Avenue dining corridor. Commenters praised its neighborhood atmosphere, outdoor setting and accessibility for families and dog owners.
One customer described it as a place where visitors could enjoy food and drinks with friends, children and pets, lamenting that the neighborhood had lost a gathering spot that accommodated a variety of occasions. Others expressed surprise at the announcement and offered encouragement to the restaurant's team.
The loss is particularly disappointing for a stretch of Adams Avenue that has increasingly attracted restaurant and bar concepts seeking to capitalize on the area's walkability, residential density and established neighborhood character.
Unlike conventional restaurants dependent primarily on indoor dining, Una Más had been designed to take advantage of San Diego's favorable climate, with a substantial patio and an emphasis on casual outdoor socializing. Its positioning as a family-friendly, pet-friendly neighborhood gathering place appeared well suited to the surrounding community.
The future of the approximately 3,500-square-foot restaurant property is also unclear. No replacement tenant or new restaurant concept has been announced, and it remains to be seen whether Donovan or another operator will attempt to revive the space under a different identity.
For now, the end of Una Más on Adams leaves behind an unusual development history: a German beer garden that never opened, an ambitious Baja fusion restaurant that took its place, and a highly anticipated neighborhood gathering spot that survived little more than a year before announcing an abrupt and permanent farewell.
Una Más on Adams was located at 2611 Adams Avenue in San Diego's University Heights/North Park area. The restaurant announced its closure through its Instagram account, @unamas_onadams, without providing additional information about the property's future.
Originally published on October 16, 2026. Photo by Ted Donovan.
