The long-awaited Safeway grocery store in Crocker Village Shopping Center is expected to open in early March.
Safeway will be the anchor tenant of the 260,000-square-foot shopping center. Other smaller shops may open soon, as tenant improvement permits have been requested for Petet’s Coffee, Firehouse Subs, Five Guys Burgers, Panda Express and Benfield Pet Hospital.
“We’re excited to open a new Safeway in Crocker Village,” Brad Street, Safeway division president of Northern California, said in a news release. “This is an ideal location being centrally located and close to downtown Sacramento. We look forward to being part of the neighborhood and welcoming residents to our new store.”
Safeway says its 55,000 square foot store will create more than 150 full- and part-time jobs. Job fairs will be conducted prior to the store’s opening. The store will have a Starbucks kiosk and pharmacy, but will not have a gas station.
“I had to decide whether to walk away and let the activists win or make a significant financial and economic concession totaling millions of dollars to Safeway to get them comfortable with moving forward without the fuel station for now,” Crocker Village developer Paul Petrovich wrote in a news release.
Petrovich said a revised lease gives Safeway “the ability to close their store if the fuel center is ultimately denied. That would be a sad day for the community and me after all this effort and investment when the city has never denied a gas station in its entire history and to do so illegally.”
A lawsuit in which Petrovich challenged City Council’s 2015 decision to deny a conditional use permit for a gas station is pending in the Third District Court of Appeal.
On Jan. 15, Petrovich Development Co. submitted to the city a revised site plan and documentation for the second phase of the commercial area, north of the current construction. Proposed improvements in the revised plan include wider walkways along storefronts for amenities such as art, arbors and seating, an enlarged corner public space at 10th Avenue and Crocker Drive, and more attractive exterior building design and materials.
All single-family housing planning approvals have been granted for the entire Crocker Village residential area. BlackPine Communities has announced the final phases of its homebuilding in Crocker Village, with homes ranging from 1,628 to 2,785 square feet. Home prices are expected to start in the high $400,000s.
The zoning administrator hearing to decide the fate of Petrovich’s request for a variance to place a 65-foot sign along Sutterville Road overpass, originally set for Dec. 13, was delayed in response to concerns expressed by SMUD about possible conflicts between the proposed sign and Public Utility Commission safety rules governing the existing distribution line and underground electrical facilities in the area. Petrovich submitted a revised variance request Jan. 15 for a 65-foot sign at the southwest corner of the grocery.
The city will recirculate the revised variance request for review. A new hearing date to discuss the necessity for a variance will be set with the zoning administrator. Public comments may be submitted up to the time of the hearing and may be emailed to Zoning Administrator Evan Compton at ecompton@cityofsacramento.org.
The revised zoning variance application will be posted on SCNA’s web page. SCNA’s comment letter will be posted when it is submitted to the city.