POINT LOMA – Shovels are expected to hit the ground by early fall for the highly anticipated, seven-acre Liberty Station project named The Admiral.
The $20 million development is spearheaded by hospitality entrepreneur, Ryan Thorsen, who purchased and refreshed the iconic fine-dining Mister A’s restaurant in 2022. The project will transform the neglected, overgrown grounds and its five historic structures into a cultural and culinary attraction complete with a large garden and open spaces for picnics and events. Views of the downtown skyline are included with the land lease.
The site will also encompass a full-service restaurant with indoor-outdoor seating, a cocktail bar and speakeasy, a game room, an event venue, and a wine market with a bakery component. They will be separately housed, with each interior capturing eras ranging from the 1920s to the late 1960s.
Thorsen promises that the site’s history as a major naval training base from 1923 to 1997 won’t be lost in the translation.
Contrary to conflicting reports from a year ago that construction of The Admiral would be well underway by now, projects of such magnitude invariably encounter headwinds.
“We’re just starting to round it out right now. It’s been a very complicated process, as you can imagine,” said Thorsen, while adding that the original $15 million price tag for the project’s full development has jumped to “around $20 million.” Its funding involves an undisclosed number of silent investors.
Thorsen, a Point Loma resident, secured the property lease from the city of San Diego in 2024, although he had his heart set on the venture a couple of years prior.
“I was going to Liberty Station all the time and driving by it on my way to work questioning why nobody did anything with these particular acres. The land is overgrown. And the houses on it, which were occupied by admirals and officers, are in disrepair. I decided that I’d be the guy to unravel this one,” he said.
The site and its former officers’ quarters are visible from Rosecrans Street and sit on the northwestern end of Liberty Station.
Thorsen hired North Park-based OBR Architecture to oversee the execution of the project. Lead architect Christopher Bittner is familiar with the historic sensitivities of the land and its structures. Through OBR, he has worked as Liberty Station’s project architect ever since the city took over the 361-acre complex in 1997 and began turning it into an arts and commercial district.
Bittner said that the five structures contained within The Admiral will be freshly painted, re-roofed, and re-rigged with new electrical and plumbing systems.
A rendering showing the planned seven acres of The Admiral. (Courtesy of OBR Architecture)“There are no parts of the buildings that we won’t be working on, including their interior designs,” he noted while pointing out that the structures are designated as historical. “But there are different requirements for different types of historical properties. The Admiral is an adaptive re-use, which falls under ‘rehabilitation’ in the federal guidelines. That gives us some freedom for making changes to the properties.”
In addition, OBR has teamed up with a landscape architect to revive the old, partially camouflaged garden currently languishing on the grounds.
“The Admiral will have a main garden, which has a lot of historical fabric,” Bittner added. “Right now, it’s trashed. But there are old stone walkways and fountains — some you can see. We will be saving all of it. It’s going to be beautiful.”
Thorsen concurs, saying that the garden will be a focal point of The Admiral’s interior.
His updated timeline for the project is laid out in three phases, with the first to be completed in late summer or early fall of 2027, and the last phase wrapping up in fall of 2028. He also noted that the complex will include an estimated 200 parking spots used for both self-parking and valet.
“This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Thorsen admitted. “It’s going to be an awesome place. I believe this is kind of the final act for making Liberty Station everything that it is.”
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