SAN DIEGO
A plan to temporarily place an observation wheel in Balboa Park has been abandoned by proponents who are pointing to city bureaucracy and a vocal opposition group as insurmountable roadblocks.
“Regretfully, four months into this journey and after many hours dedicated to community outreach and responding to the city’s endless list of project action items, we’ve decided to walk away from the Balboa Park Star,” proponents said in a statement.
The brainchild of David Cohn of the Cohn Restaurant Group, the so-called Balboa Park Star was intended as a pandemic-friendly activity that could promote more foot traffic in the park at a time when many of its other attractions museums and restaurants have limited or ceased their operations because of state and county regulations.
Italian Seafood Restaurant Replacing Indigo Grill in Little Italy
Allegro will be opening when on-site dining returns
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A fixture in Little Italy, where it opened in 1994 and was given a major refresh in 2014, Indigo Grill shuttered for good in February 2020 and changed hands, transferring from the Cohn Restaurant Group to the San Diego Dining Group (SDG), a local hospitality company whose holdings include the Gaslamp’s Osetra Seafood & Steaks, Greystone Prime Seafood & Steakhouse, and Saltwater.
Its new owners are reportedly preparing to reopen the restaurant as soon as on-site dining is allowed again. Allegro will be helmed by executive chef Marco Provino, who worked with the SDG group at Osteria Panevino before branching out and opening Giardino in Lemon Grove and Verandina in Imperial Beach. Last year, he launched Rusticucina on Park Boulevard with a cadre of fellow Sicilians.
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It still had several steps to complete before the giant wheel could be installed, temporarily, in the Plaza de Panama as early as Spring.
The idea was to create a way for visitors to dine safely amid the coronavirus pandemic inside one of 36 enclosed gondolas, which would provide sweeping views of San Diego. It would have been operated for three to six months by Sky Views of America and managed by The Cohn Restaurant Group, which owns the iconic Prado Restaurant and Tea Pavilion that are located in the park.