Real estate

Safeway’s plan for Albany store meets resistance

May 28, 2010 11:57 am by Frances Dinkelspiel

Safeway wants its customers to have a peak experience while shopping at its stores.

Trouble is, many neighborhood residents seem to be skeptical of the impacts those “enhanced” experiences will offer.

In recent years, Safeway has met tough resistance to its plans to transform its 1,710 stores into “lifestyle stores,” complete with in-hour bakeries, floral shops, pharmacies, delis,  and separate sections for meat and fish.

When Safeway announced plans to tear down its 1950s era store on Claremont and College Avenue along the Berkeley/Oakland border, neighbors expressed concern that the new building would dominate the neighborhood. Safeway wanted to replace its circa-25,000 square foot, one-story store with two-story 61,972 square foot store.  Parking would be moved underground.

In north Berkeley, residents have complained that Safeway’s plans for a remodeled and expanded 46,147 square foot store would detract from the pedestrian-friendly feel of Shattuck Avenue. They have asked the grocery chain to make some substantial changes to the proposed design, which the company is considering.

Oakland residents also cried “stop” at the plans to drastically increase the size of the store on Pleasant Valley.

Now it’s Albany’s turn.

Safeway has announced plans to transform its store on Solano Avenue between Curtis and Neilson into a 55,000 square foot store with all the latest amenities (see video). The new building would cover the existing parking lot, go from one to two stories, and limit vehicle access to two residential streets, Curtis and Neilson streets. That means cars would have to take a left hand turn on busy Solano to shop at Safeway.

A group calling itself Stop Safeway on Solano is trying to convince Safeway to scale back its plans. The group says it is not opposed to upgrading the existing store, but is concerned that the proposed building is out of scale for the neighborhood. The group would like Safeway to fix up the existing store, which would be a great “reduce-reuse-recycle” project.

“It’s been very much a David and Goliath experience for the neighbors who have been actively giving input,” said Sarah Baughn, the block captain of the 800 block of Neilson in Berkeley.

Complicating matters is the fact that the store sits right on the Berkeley/Albany border. The city of Albany will determine whether Safeway can remodel, so those Berkeley residents living next door to the store will not have a say in the plans.

The Albany Planning and Zoning Commission will meet to talk about the Safeway expansion on Thursday June 3 at Albany City Hall.

6 Comments

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  • Steven Donaldson

    I’ve been attending these meetings. The store planned is 1000% improvement on what is there. The larger size in great part is devoted to additional storage and warehousing needs (now handled by leaving stuff in large parked trailers). The new store will be much, much more friendly to Solano Avenue with at scale frontage that will bit in better than the current store which is a junky old suburban store with a massive impersonal parking lot along Solano.

    The opponents, NIMBY’s, are just afraid of change claiming all kinds of horrible traffic and building problems with no substantiating facts. Many people who did attend the meeting supporting the design and the change.

  • Paul D.

    The plans that Safeway presented are a vast improvement to the existing store and are in keeping with the scale and development along Solano Ave. The vocal opponents seem to want to stop progress at any and all costs, and would clearly be happy if Safeway closed up shop and left the site entirely. Their intention seems to be to prevent Albany and Berkeley residents from shopping in “their” neighborhood.

    Neighbors always seem to want well considered plans and architectural designs that fit into the neighborhood. Safeway has proposed just such a project. That people continue to gripe about the design and size of the store only shows that these are NIMBY’s that will never be pleased.

  • Elisabeth Jewel

    I am Safeway’s community and government affairs consultant for the Berkeley store. Your information regarding that store is incorrect. The proposal for the Berkeley store is a remodel that adds about 15,000 square feet while re-orienting the store toward Shattuck. The new design makes dramatic improvements to all aspects of the store — both inside and out. The current design moves the store out to Shattuck and features outdoor seating and a new entrance to the store on the Shattuck side. We are working closely with the city’s Design Review Commission to make significant improvements to exterior appearance, landscaping, parking, and pedestrian safety.

  • Jamie

    I like the video. It looks like a great building, and I can’t wait until they replace that dilapidated mess and that ugly stone. This is the smallest Safeway I’ve ever been to. You can’t have two carts in the aisles, so you have to back up all the time. Aurrgghh.

    It looks like they are taking out that old ugly parking lot in the front of the building and moving the front of the store to the street. That’s awesome.

  • http://francesdinkelspiel.com/ Frances Dinkelspiel

    Elisabeth, I have changed the term “new” to “remodeled and expanded” store on Shattuck.

  • http://www.stopsafewayonsolano.org Peter

    I don’t think the concerns from neighbors should be so easily dismissed as “NIMBY” concerns. When a retailer occupies an entire city block facing a major commercial thoroughfare, it seems eminently reasonable to me to request that primary vehicle access to this retailer be located on the thoroughfare rather than redirected onto nearby low-density residential streets. Similarly the idea that a large store should supply adequate parking for its anticipated customer volume isn’t simply a reasonable request from neighbors, it is a universally recognized tenant of good urban design.

    It’s also worth noting that things may not be as they seem in the video above, and many items do not necessarily appear to scale. The streets appear wider than they actually do in real life, in order to give the store a less imposing feel. The viewing angles have also been carefully managed to give the illusion that the building is of the same height as neighboring structures, whereas the three story construction Safeway is proposing will in some cases tower over neighboring businesses and residences.