Architects and design professionals, the property owners, and the Rancho Santa Fe Covenant Design Review Committee (CDRC) had worked for eight months to come up with a mutually acceptable building to occupy the former Stump’s Market space. Alas, it was not to be.
Stump’s left in October of 2015. In November, designers proposed consolidating all of the space into a two-story building with 16,000 square feet on the ground floor for a market, a smaller space on top, and an underground parking garage. The property owners, adjacent neighbors, CDRC, and architects have worked since then to try to make mutually agreeable modifications.
Earlier this month, however, the plans were scrapped. Pete Smith, representing the Woolley family who owns the property, said they couldn’t make the new proposal pencil out while meeting the legitimate concerns of neighbors and the CDRC.
At one point, the Woolley family offered to lease the present space to the Homeowners Association at below-market rates and allow the Association to sublease it at a higher rate. But the Association declined.
Smith said he will continue to look for a market to occupy the 10,000-foot space Stump’s vacated, and multiple parties have shown continuous interest. The post office will remain in any event.
The Woolley family is currently preparing the space for showings, donating, recycling, or discarding the fixtures, some of which are more than three decades old, and otherwise sprucing up the interior. Smith said the Woolleys will work with the Association’s Village Revitalization committee on coming up with a long-term plan.