The company that revitalized Little Italy also works in Chula Vista. El Cajon is next.

From a restaurant patio table on El Cajon's main drag, Marco Li Mandri sees a large mattress store, a coffee shop, and a building under construction across the street. But most of all, he said, he sees potential. “I look at the form and then the content,” he said. “It has great, wide sidewalks. It has great landscaping. It has great lighting infrastructure. It has all those elements to make something work. So the way to make it all work is alrea…