Next to the nearly 80-year-old iconic Rocky Point restaurant on a calm Tuesday morning, roughly 20 people gather in a circle on Sept. 22, views of Bixby Bridge visible in the distance. Lorenzo Piazza, an associate architect with the firm working with developer Patrice Pastor, who acquired the property in 2021 through his real estate development company, Esperanza Carmel, stands in the center of the circle holding a poster board.
On it are renderings depicting drafts of a new building that will replace the old restaurant – what, from a distance, looks like a glass tube with 47 wooden arches spaced nearly five feet apart.
“Our goal is to limit the number of materials and to find a color tone which integrates as much as possible into the environment,” Piazza said to a full room of attendees at a Big Sur Land Use Advisory Committee meeting held later that day, following the morning site visit to Rocky Point. Comments received at the meeting will inform recommendations to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors for review.
Most people in the room knew the restaurant intimately, either as frequent visitors or as former employees. One man said he went to prom there, another woman in the audience is the daughter of the original owners.
Since 2021, the owner has been working to resolve violations inherited with the property, including issues involving access to public land and several unpermitted projects. In 2024, the California Coastal Commission approved an agreement addressing those violations, clearing a path for the project’s development plans.
Rocky Point is the smallest of Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s current projects, the international firm on the project, led by famous architect Renzo Piano and eight partners. The restaurant’s name will remain unchanged, and two employee housing units will remain on the property. In accordance with the Big Sur Land Use Plan, the restaurant’s seating capacity will be reduced by 40 percent, from 200 to 120 seats.
The plan also includes public access and restoration of the site, removing eucalyptus trees and replacing them with native vegetation. A picnic area, a parking lot with 55 stalls and public access trails are part of the plan. Major concerns from the public include light pollution, obstruction of views and insufficient staff housing, among others.
“Our main issue is, ‘Does it fit the rustic character of Big Sur?’” said Marcus Foster of Keep Big Sur Wild.