San Diego Business Journal: New Openings Bring Del Mar Plaza to Capacity

RETAIL: Grocery Market to Open in December

Article by Gary Wrath


DEL MAR – With three shops opening in July alone and a market on track to open in December, Del Mar Plaza is expected to be 100% full by the end of the year.

Co-owner Patty Brutten said the 76,000-square-foot complex will have a good mix of retail and restaurants with the new openings, and she hinted that more changes could be in store as some businesses are on a month-to-month lease.

The newest additions are Yoga Barre, SkinSpirit and The Cottage restaurant, which all opened within a two-week period in July.

“I would say that the Plaza has never been healthier in terms of its occupancy and tenant mix,” Brutten said. “We were basically curating the mix instead of just taking whoever came our way, holding spaces open for the right uses that were synergistic and had a lot of interest for the community members.”

A fourth new tenant, Valley Farm Market, was expected to open in the spring or summer, but several delays have pushed its planned opening until December.


“I want to make a public apology for our streetscape because the street level is under construction,” Brutten said about the ongoing work. “I know it doesn’t look very pretty, but it will be very stunning when we get that completed.”

Plaza Revitalized

Change is nothing new at Del Mar Plaza, which Brutten and her husband Marc bought in February 2017 as the Brixton Capital real estate investment firm.

Since the purchase, the couple has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements, worked with the city to lift restrictions on the property and attempted to balance tenants to spread out customer use evenly throughout the day.

Brutten visited SkinSpirit on its opening day and even had a facial while there.

“They are a very, very professional tenant,” she said

Lynn Heublein, CEO and founder of SkinSpirit, said she had been looking to open the company’s first clinic in San Diego County for a while.

“San Diego is a very vibrant economy,” she said. “People are moving there from all over the country, and our mission is to be the trusted national brand. San Diego is a market we’ve been looking at for quite a while, and we were waiting for the right location to open up.”

“San Diego is a very vibrant economy,” she said. “People are moving there from all over the country, and our mission is to be the trusted national brand. San Diego is a market we’ve been looking at for quite a while, and we were waiting for the right location to open up.”

SkinSpirit is based in Seattle and has 46 clinics in 14 states, plus Washington, D.C. Its other nearest Southern California clinic is in Newport Beach.

Like other SkinSpirit clinics, the Del Mar Plaza location will work with a local plastic surgeon who will be either on site or a phone call away, Heublein said.

Brutten also is excited about Yoga Barre and The Cottage coming to the Plaza.

“We held out for the Yoga Barre because we really wanted to have a yoga studio that would fit all needs,” Brutten said. “And she does infrared hot yoga and she also does warm yoga, and then she does regular barre classes with no heat. So she provides a huge variety for whatever the community wants and needs.”

With the opening of The Cottage, Del Mar Plaza will have nine food and beverage places. 

The Cottage owner Jason Peaslee also owns restaurants by the same name in La Jolla and Encinitas, and Brutten said he will be open for breakfast and lunch, serving Eggs Benedict, omelets, French toast, fish tacos and other dishes.

Local Pride

The Bruttens’ purchase of the plaza from Munich, German-based GLL Real Estate returned the property to local ownership for the first time in 20 years.

“I think I know the community really well,” Brutten said. “We have the unique perspective of all being residents, because we live right here, and we’re super familiar with our neighbors. We know what they love and what they need and what they would like to see there.”

Among the changes to the Plaza since they acquired the property, the Bruttens received permission from the city in 2019 to revise the Del Mar Specific Plan that had restricted the size of restaurants on the property. The change allowed more eateries, which Brutten said was necessary because the Plaza could not have been revived on retail alone.

Another city restriction on the Plaza dating back to its 1989 opening was a requirement to have a market for at least 20 years. Markets came and went and the 20-year timeline has expired, but the property is preparing for its first grocer in the Brutten era.

Brutten said Valley Farm Market owner Derek Marso plans a specialty market with fresh fish caught daily from his own vessel. Half of the market’s space will be an eatery, with customers able to order prepared food, she said.

Marso has similar markets in La Jolla and Spring Valley.

Brixton Capital
Founded: 2012
Headquarters: Solana Beach
Founder and Chairman: Marc Brutten
Website: www.brixtoncapital.com
Employees: 45
Contact: 858-683-7100
Notable: Brixton owns and manages a portfolio of multifamily and retail assets totaling more than $1.5 billion

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