Some La Jolla residents are growing frustrated with the state of the former site of a Jack in the Box at 564 Pearl St. But the lot’s status won’t be changing anytime soon.
The property, which contains the vacant former fast-food restaurant, has been unoccupied since being purchased by the adjacent Bishop’s School in September 2021. The school’s plan has been to lease out the site in the short term and later convert it for student use. It is currently fenced off and used for school bus parking.
Bishop’s School buys Jack in the Box property in La Jolla; plans for its use to be determined
Area resident Mary Montgomery, a former manager of the La Jolla Maintenance Assessment District, said she had to “do a double take” when she recently drove past the site.
“Several parked school buses now occupy the dilapidated site, their yellow tops visible over the tattered green fabric shrouding the chain-link fence erected around the property, as if to highlight this aesthetic homage to some dystopian vision,” she wrote in a letter to the editor published by the La Jolla Light. “Pearl Street is arguably one of the most utilitarian thoroughfares in The Village, but this growing edifice to urban blight is a little much.”
But for the time being at least, that’s the way it will remain because Bishop’s is still looking for a tenant.
“The Bishop’s School continues working to lease the property at 564 Pearl St.,” said Cathy Morrison, Bishop’s director of marketing and communications. “We acknowledge and appreciate the local community’s ongoing interest in the school’s plans for the former Jack in the Box property and hope to share further updates in the coming months. In the meantime, we are maintaining our 24/7 security patrols, night lighting for safety, full perimeter fencing and daily use of the site for our bus parking.”
No plans have been announced for the property’s long-term use or when the school will decide on that.
“The leasing opportunity must be a good match for the community, a potential and compatibility with our school as well. So it is a careful balance, including factoring in timing and, of course, market conditions,” Morrison said. “At this point, we don’t have definitive plans for future school use.”
When the $5.5 million purchase was announced, Bishop’s Head of School Ron Kim said “we’re very mindful of the visibility and location of that property. We want to be a good neighbor, and know this matters to people.”
He added that the acquisition was part of an effort to create more resources for Bishop’s students.
“We’re a great school and want to continue to be a great school, so this was about imagination and looking at our vision for how we can learn and grow better,” Kim said at the time. “Whenever we think about the future, we have the desire to expand what we can do. We want to make sure that space constraints aren’t going to prevent us from doing something.”
A deal with a prospective tenant fell through in August 2022, causing the school to restart its search.
“It’s a long process, and while we first thought it would take approximately nine months, the timeline looks like it will take longer than we initially anticipated,” Morrison said at the time.
In June 2023, the school told the Light that the building “remains for lease,” with no deadline to find a tenant before converting it for school use.
“If demolition is warranted at some point, we will follow the city of San Diego process for permitting and any work necessary,” the school said in a statement at the time. “We prioritize the safety, health and wellness of our school community and greater community, and when we are ready to convert the property for school use at some time, the plans will go before community groups for review.” ♦
