Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement Souplantation, the popular buffet-style dining brand founded in San Diego 42 years ago, is closing all of its restaurants permanently, a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic that is likely to be the death knell for all self-serve eateries.The permanent shuttering of the 97 restaurants, including 44 in California, was announced Thursday following weeks of efforts to salvage San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, which operates outside of Southern California....…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement Souplantation, the popular buffet-style dining brand founded in San Diego 42 years ago, is closing all of its restaurants permanently, a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic that is likely to be the death knell for all self-serve eateries.The permanent shuttering of the 97 restaurants, including 44 in California, was announced Thursday following weeks of efforts to salvage San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, which operates outside of Southern California....WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement One year from the day she local restaurants to close and prohibited public and private gatherings, Dr. Wilma Wooten announced Tuesday that San Diego County has attained a case rate low enough to rejoin the red tier of the state’s reopening blueprint Wednesday.In a biweekly COVID-19 update to the Board of Supervisors, the county’s public health officer foreshadowed the contents of the state’s weekly tier , listing the score at 6.8 cases per 100,000 residents. Taken together with last week’s rate of 8.8, and because...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement One year from the day she local restaurants to close and prohibited public and private gatherings, Dr. Wilma Wooten announced Tuesday that San Diego County has attained a case rate low enough to rejoin the red tier of the state’s reopening blueprint Wednesday.In a biweekly COVID-19 update to the Board of Supervisors, the county’s public health officer foreshadowed the contents of the state’s weekly tier , listing the score at 6.8 cases per 100,000 residents. Taken together with last week’s rate of 8.8, and because...WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement For the last three months, the Air Conditioned Lounge has been closed, its lively dance club silenced, but that doesn’t mean the North Park venue hasn’t been preparing for its reopening Friday, when bars finally get to resume business.“The bar has been maintained the whole time because we got federal PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) money so I continued to pay the staff and they’d come and clean the place,” said owner Gary John Collins, whose bar doesn’t sell food, unlike many San Diego County bars that got to...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement For the last three months, the Air Conditioned Lounge has been closed, its lively dance club silenced, but that doesn’t mean the North Park venue hasn’t been preparing for its reopening Friday, when bars finally get to resume business.“The bar has been maintained the whole time because we got federal PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) money so I continued to pay the staff and they’d come and clean the place,” said owner Gary John Collins, whose bar doesn’t sell food, unlike many San Diego County bars that got to...WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement Local leaders are now driving a conceptual airport transit hub, often referred to as “San Diego Grand Central Station,” down an expensive road of technical reviews that could eventually end with taxpayers being asked to spend a billion dollars or more on its development.Wednesday, the San Diego Association of Governments published a notice of preparation, or NOP, for environmental review of a central mobility hub — either at the Navy’s Old Town Campus or a site between Interstate 5 and Pacific Highway near the...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement Local leaders are now driving a conceptual airport transit hub, often referred to as “San Diego Grand Central Station,” down an expensive road of technical reviews that could eventually end with taxpayers being asked to spend a billion dollars or more on its development.Wednesday, the San Diego Association of Governments published a notice of preparation, or NOP, for environmental review of a central mobility hub — either at the Navy’s Old Town Campus or a site between Interstate 5 and Pacific Highway near the...WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement The owners of two vacation rental homes that were accused of operating large, raucous parties amid the pandemic have reached settlements with the city of San Diego, which took steps last year to shut down the Airbnb rentals.While the final legal judgments worked out by the San Diego City Attorney’s Office for the two properties in La Jolla and Bankers Hill differ in scope, both stipulate that the homeowners are barred from “maintaining, causing or permitting” a public nuisance or allowing large gatherings in...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement The owners of two vacation rental homes that were accused of operating large, raucous parties amid the pandemic have reached settlements with the city of San Diego, which took steps last year to shut down the Airbnb rentals.While the final legal judgments worked out by the San Diego City Attorney’s Office for the two properties in La Jolla and Bankers Hill differ in scope, both stipulate that the homeowners are barred from “maintaining, causing or permitting” a public nuisance or allowing large gatherings in...WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement The downtown Courtyard San Diego hotel, which began life in the 1920s as a bank, has been sold for $64.5 million to Pimco, a global investment management firm headquartered in Newport Beach.While the seller, Hersha Hospitality Trust, would not divulge the name of the buyer, Pimco is identified as the new owner by real estate tracker CoStar. It was also confirmed by Alan Reay, president of the hotel brokerage firm, Atlas Hospitality Group, based in Orange County.The purchase price is $6.5 million less than what the...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement The downtown Courtyard San Diego hotel, which began life in the 1920s as a bank, has been sold for $64.5 million to Pimco, a global investment management firm headquartered in Newport Beach.While the seller, Hersha Hospitality Trust, would not divulge the name of the buyer, Pimco is identified as the new owner by real estate tracker CoStar. It was also confirmed by Alan Reay, president of the hotel brokerage firm, Atlas Hospitality Group, based in Orange County.The purchase price is $6.5 million less than what the...WW…

Copyright © 2021, The San Diego Union-Tribune | |AdvertisementThe discovery was made Monday evening by Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa commercial port of entryAssistant Sheriff Kelly Martinez will replace Mike Barnett, who will retire after 29 years with the Sheriff’s DepartmentThe county is revising probation policies, hiring a new probation chief and building a new juvenile detention campusPolice said the driver was drifting and doing ‘doughnuts’ during an illegal car meetup when he struck and badly injured a 25-year-old womanThis week’s San Diego dining column,...…Copyright © 2021, The San Diego Union-Tribune | |AdvertisementThe discovery was made Monday evening by Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa commercial port of entryAssistant Sheriff Kelly Martinez will replace Mike Barnett, who will retire after 29 years with the Sheriff’s DepartmentThe county is revising probation policies, hiring a new probation chief and building a new juvenile detention campusPolice said the driver was drifting and doing ‘doughnuts’ during an illegal car meetup when he struck and badly injured a 25-year-old womanThis week’s San Diego dining column,...WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | Breaking News AdvertisementAdvertisement A broad compromise that has the potential to end San Diego’s years-long stalemate over how to regulate short-term rentals will go before the city’s elected leaders on Tuesday.The proposal, which has won the support of Airbnb and other large home-sharing platforms, as well as organized labor, calls for an overall cap on the number of whole-home rentals that could be listed for more than 20 days in a year.The net effect would be to slash the volume of such rentals by as much as 30 percent citywide,...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | Breaking News AdvertisementAdvertisement A broad compromise that has the potential to end San Diego’s years-long stalemate over how to regulate short-term rentals will go before the city’s elected leaders on Tuesday.The proposal, which has won the support of Airbnb and other large home-sharing platforms, as well as organized labor, calls for an overall cap on the number of whole-home rentals that could be listed for more than 20 days in a year.The net effect would be to slash the volume of such rentals by as much as 30 percent citywide,...WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | Breaking News AdvertisementAdvertisement The prolific San Diego restaurant group, CH Projects, is currently in escrow to purchase the Lafayette Hotel, a North Park landmark that in its heyday was a retreat for some of Hollywood’s most famous movie stars.The prospective sale, first reported Tuesday by was confirmed by CH co-founder Arsalun Tafazoli, whose company would be making its first foray into hotel ownership should the purchase be successful. CH Projects is known for its robust portfolio of San Diego drinking and dining venues,...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | Breaking News AdvertisementAdvertisement The prolific San Diego restaurant group, CH Projects, is currently in escrow to purchase the Lafayette Hotel, a North Park landmark that in its heyday was a retreat for some of Hollywood’s most famous movie stars.The prospective sale, first reported Tuesday by was confirmed by CH co-founder Arsalun Tafazoli, whose company would be making its first foray into hotel ownership should the purchase be successful. CH Projects is known for its robust portfolio of San Diego drinking and dining venues,...WW…

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement After nearly two months of operating under a strict stay-at-home order, San Diego County businesses were cheering the news Monday that they can at least partially reopen following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement he was lifting restrictions across California and returning to the state’s tiered, color-coded system for stemming the spread of the coronavirus. With his latest action, San Diego is back in the purple tier, meaning that restaurants will be able to resume outdoor dining. Nail and hair salons and tattoo...…Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement After nearly two months of operating under a strict stay-at-home order, San Diego County businesses were cheering the news Monday that they can at least partially reopen following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement he was lifting restrictions across California and returning to the state’s tiered, color-coded system for stemming the spread of the coronavirus. With his latest action, San Diego is back in the purple tier, meaning that restaurants will be able to resume outdoor dining. Nail and hair salons and tattoo...WW…