Urban Kitchen Group to open second restaurant in Bankers Hill

Restaurateur Tracy Borkum and chef-partner Tim Kolonko of San Diego’s Urban Kitchen Group said Monday that they have signed a lease for a new all-day restaurant concept that will open in late 2027 near Cucina Urbana, the company’s flagship restaurant in Bankers Hill.

The new restaurant’s name, culinary direction and design are still in development.

The future restaurant will occupy a long-vacant, ground-floor space in the Manchester Financial building at 2550 Fifth Ave., Unit 120. The nearly 5,000-square-foot space was previously occupied by the sister Italian concepts Civico by the Park and Il Dandy, which shuttered in 2022. The newly leased restaurant space is catty-corner to Michelin-recognized Cucina Urbana, which opened 17 years ago at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Laurel Street.

Borkum said that despite the history of that location in the Manchester building, she’s optimistic for the future.

"We understand the history of the space, but we also see the opportunity,” she said. “Restaurants succeed when the concept, timing, neighborhood and operator are aligned, and we feel incredibly confident in what Bankers Hill has become and where it's headed.

“We've spent nearly two decades building relationships and community in this neighborhood. So for us, this isn't about taking over a vacant restaurant space - it's about thoughtfully reactivating an important corner in a community we deeply believe in and are intimately connected to," Ioele said.

Pasquale Ioele of Urban Property Group, which represented the landlord in lease negotiations, shared Borkum’s enthusiasm.

"Bankers Hill has reached a tipping point where residential density, walkability, and demand for high‑quality dining all intersect," Ioele said, in a statement. "We're excited to have worked with Tracy Borkum and her team on this opportunity - a concept from her is exactly the kind of elevated, neighborhood‑serving restaurant that belongs here. With her deep roots in Bankers Hill, Tracy has a unique ability to create something that's both destination‑worthy and truly representative of how the neighborhood continues to thrive.”

The new restaurant announcement comes two months after Urban Kitchen Group closed its 12-year-old Cucina Enoteca location in Del Mar’s Flower Hill Promenade shopping center. The company announced in January that it would shutter that location in March as the result of rising lease costs and a softening of sales in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Urban Kitchen Group owns multiple culinary concepts in San Diego and Orange counties, including Cucina Enotecas in Newport Beach and Irvine, The Kitchen @ MCASD La Jolla, Artifact at Mingei in Balboa Park, Gold Finch Modern Delicatessen in La Jolla, Morena Provisions in Mission Valley, Urban Kitchen at the Rady Shell and Urban Kitchen Catering.

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