The owner prior to us was planning a very different redevelopment of the property that involved tearing down the Vons box, adding subterranean parking and ground-floor retail with apartments above. This was appealed by a group of residents. We decided to keep it strictly a retail and office project.

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GlobeSt.com: Can you go into more detail about the planned renovation and the tenants you're looking to attract to the center?

Schonfeld: We're trying to create an upscale specialty-retail project that has a variety of tenants. Equinox will be one type of anchor, food another. We plan to offer a variety of quick-service and full-service food options and more upscale healthy-dining options. We have no specific tenants to name yet, but some local and regional concepts are being considered from Los Angeles and Orange County to provide a choice of healthier farm-to-table restaurants. There's really nothing like that in North County. We're also planning to attract boutique retail, so the center will be a mix of fitness, restaurants, boutique retail and daily service tenants such as a hair/nail salon and a blow-dry bar. It will really be a place where locals can come and work out, get some food, shop and take care of their daily service needs—not just to come in and leave, but to spend some time there.

Some of the current tenants will remain in place and some won't. We're in discussions with all of them. For example, La Costa Wine Co. fits the right profile, and so would the orthodontist.

GlobeSt.com: What is the luxury retail market like in this part of Carlsbad?

Schonfeld: It's new to North County, and there's a great demand for this type of center. It lays out really well for this kind of intimate town-center feel. It's not laid out like a typical grocery-anchored shopping or strip center. We really think we can create that intimate feeling given the layout. Other centers like Brentwood Country Mart, Malibu Country Mart and centers in Northern California outside of San Francisco have the tenant mix we're trying to achieve.

We're keeping the current layout—all the buildings will remain—but there will be substantial renovation to the building facades. It will continue to have that Spanish Mediterranean feel, but with a little modern twist on that. We'll upgrade the buildings that haven't been touched in a long time. In addition to the façade work, we will do site work, work to the parking lot, create more pedestrian areas and outdoor seating, create outdoor living rooms and parklets and outdoor dining areas.