A major makeover for Encinitas Marketplace shopping center will also bring the return of Whole Foods Market to the city, promotional material from the property’s management shows.
The center’s ownership changed hands in January 2019 and was anchored by Kohl’s department store until April 2025. Whole Foods Market’s downtown Encinitas location at Pacific Station closed in 2017.
According to promotional material from Jones Lang LaSalle, Encinitas Marketplace, located on El Camino Real just north of Encinitas Boulevard, is in store for significant architectural changes over the next two years. Whole Foods Market is slated to occupy a portion of the space where Kohl’s was located.
The facelift, estimated to cost $10 million, will replace the current facades — now a mix of the shopping center’s original middle-class southwestern theme with modern updates made about 15 years ago — with an upscale look for a theme “that embraces premium products reflecting (Encinitas’) luxurious yet relaxed coastal lifestyle,” according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s description.
The architects named for the project, Long Beach-based RDC, have a San Diego portfolio that includes Equinox in La Costa, The Campus at Horton, Fashion Valley Mall, Del Mar Highlands Town Center, Costa Verde Center in the Golden Triangle, Park & Broadway and 1060 A Street, according to the firm’s website.
The 124,411-square-foot shopping center, also currently anchored by Lawrance Furniture, sold for $43 million in January 2019. Other tenants include O’Reilly Auto Parts, My Sister’s Closet, Chik-Fil-A and The Kebab Shop. Verizon is moving to the center from another location nearby on El Camino Real.
Five Guys burger restaurant recently closed and its space is listed for lease in Jones Lang LaSalle’s promotional material, as is space occupied by the center’s last original tenant from 1981, Frontier Cleaners.
Encinitas Marketplace opened in 1981 as Wiegand Plaza, named for the historic Olivenhain family. Its original anchor tenant was Alpha Beta supermarket followed by Lucky and Albertsons before Kohl’s obtained the space. Wiegand Plaza was developed by Quong-Watkins Properties and originally had a partner center, Wiegand Plaza II, now the separate El Camino Promenade, which was anchored by AMC Theatres until 2007.
