SD Mag broke the news about Green Acre from chef Brian Malarkey and Enlightened Hospitality Group. It seemed like a quirky one-off—a white-hot chef (whose TV show with Anthony Bourdain debuts on ABC on Jan. 22) doing a healthy cafe at a high-end business complex for scientists. But that first project was just the tip of the iceberg.
Now Alexandria Real Estate Equities has tapped EHG and Malarkey to transform the former Fibbonaci’s Campus Pointe Bistro into Green Acre East (10300 Campus Pointe Dr., in the Golden Triangle/UTC area). The plan? Well, huge. The new restaurant, currently under construction, is rumored to be in the 15,000 square-foot realm—with ornate design that will rival their flagship Downtown restaurant, Searsucker. The organic vegetable and fruit garden onsite at the 42-acre campus will supply the kitchen, presumably overseen by chef de cuisine Joel Cammett (ex-Gingham). Green Acre East is scheduled to open in July.
Alexandria owns five San Diego properties altogether, and it’s rumored that Malarkey and EHG will be reinventing the office-park restaurants at more locations. Then, who knows. Alexandria obviously has the funds and the motivation (attract brilliant scientists) to put Green Acres into its entire fleet of properties across the U.S. Their international locations seem a little less likely, but not out of the realm of possibility.
If that becomes the case, the quirky little offshoot idea may end up dwarfing Searsucker or Herringbone as a moneymaker for EHG.
Alexandria and EHG declined to talk about the project at this time.
