The Moonshadows restaurant site along the Malibu coast, a high-profile casualty of one of California's most destructive wildfires, is now up for grabs.
All that remains of the once-popular restaurant is a 0.3-acre strip littered with remnants of the 40-year-old restaurant’s structure destroyed by the Palisades fire along with thousands of homes and dozens of businesses in January.
The site has been cleared of toxic debris and is available through a ground-lease offering after the private owners decided not to rebuild. The listing at 20356 Pacific Coast Highway offers restaurant or hospitality operators the chance to plant their flag on the waterline in one of Los Angeles County’s most exclusive dining corridors.
It also represents the latest turning point for businesses recovering in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton fires that collectively torched 40,000 acres across Los Angeles, destroying 11,200 residential and commercial properties.
Other local restaurants, including Mastro’s Ocean Club, Gladstones and Duke’s Malibu, also sustained damage in the fire, but all have since reopened, at least partially. Local celebrity-favorite Japanese restaurant Nobu, meanwhile, was not damaged in the fires.
Any new operator for the Gladstones site will need to start from scratch, building at a time when construction costs and interest rates are high and Malibu’s recovery from the fires remains uncertain.
A 40-year opportunity
Moonshadows, previously one of Yelp’s top 100 U.S. restaurants, had been part of Malibu’s identity for four decades. It was among several destination eateries tucked between scenic waves and the Pacific Ocean Highway in the wealthy community about 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles that attracts global tourists, regional day-trippers and well-heeled locals.
The 13,000-square-foot restaurant was built in 1966 atop the pilings of the Big Rock Café, a Malibu mainstay dating back to 1949. Over the years, Moonshadows became more than just a restaurant — it was a landmark where locals marked milestones and visitors toasted sunsets over crashing waves.
The site is one of only a handful of oceanfront restaurant-zoned parcels along the Pacific Coast Highway, according to Brandon Cohan, founder of Beverly Hills–based Brandon Cohan Real Estate, who is marketing the lease on behalf of the private family that will continue to own the land. He did not disclose the owners, but records indicate it is a group affiliated with a small-property owner based in Santa Barbara.
“Every major restaurateur in the world wants this space,” Cohan told CoStar News. “This is one of the rare opportunities to have a restaurant on the waterline.”
In the face of challenges to rebuilding, Cohan says the city has indicated it wants to help with permitting support to get a new site up and running.
Cohan calls the new listing a long-horizon play, where an upscale restaurant operator along the lines of Tao Group or SBE Entertainment can establish a destination space along the lines of celebrity-haven Nobu.
“This is essentially a 40-year opportunity,” Cohan said. “Malibu and Palisades will eventually be rebuilt.”
Negotiable ground lease
Malibu rarely sees new oceanfront restaurants, with Nobu marking the last major opening about 15 years ago. Cohan notes that redeveloping a coastal site like Moonshadows can take three or four years even after permits are secured.
A restaurant group would cover the cost of designing, constructing and running a new building, while the landowner would keep the site’s title and eventually take back the improvements when the lease expired.
The ground lease terms on the 0.3-acre lot are negotiable, Cohan said. A ground lease lets a tenant build and operate on land they don’t own, while the landlord retains control of the dirt beneath it.
For oceanfront owners, it’s a way to attract a top-tier operator without footing the multimillion-dollar construction bill.
“We’re getting offers. We’re just waiting for the right operator and transaction while we negotiate what should be built,” Cohen said.
Deep state of recovery
Malibu has begun to turn the corner on recovery from the January Palisades Fire, with the city recently processing its 100th home rebuild submittal. Officials say the first full building permits are now being issued to residential landowners, a milestone that signals families are finally moving from paperwork into reconstruction.
While progress is faster than what followed the 2018 Woolsey Fire, developers say, rebuilding remains a long, step-by-step process for residents.
Malibu’s costal restaurant scene is recovering, too.
Gladstones has reopened its outdoor deck after roughly six months of closure from fire damage, hoping to restore a sense of normalcy to the community. Duke’s Malibu survived the blaze structurally, though repairs to adjacent infrastructure and post-fire mudslides have delayed its full reopening.
Meanwhile, the Reel Inn — a longtime Malibu favorite across the street from the beach — was destroyed and faces uncertainty about whether it can return to its site.