Politics & Government

Rebuild of Safeway on Solano Canceled

The long debated and much revised plan to replace the existing Safeway on Solano Avenue in Albany with a bigger Safeway and some third-party retail is no longer in Safeway's plans, according to a Safeway spokeswoman.

Safeway is no longer proposing to replace its store on Solano Avenue in Albany with a larger Safeway that would also include other retailers, a company spokeswoman told Patch.

Safeway had long sought to replace the existing store at 1500 Solano Ave. with an expanded new Safeway but ran into objections over the scale and impacts from traffic and parking.

In response to an inquiry on the project from Patch, Wendy Gutshall, a representative for the Northern California division of Safeway, responded via email, "The tear down/re-build of the Solano Ave. Safeway store is no longer in our plans. We are looking into remodeling the existing building."

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Asked the reason for Safeway's decision to pull the plug on the longstanding proposal and whether a remodel would involve an expansion of used space or merhandise, Gutshall said, "We continually evaluate our locations – inside and out – to best meet the needs of our shoppers and the community. If we elect to remodel, the updated store will reflect current trends in merchandizing and product preferences."

Albany City Planner Anne Hersch, asked if Safeway had provided any written documents to the city about the change of plans, responded that the city doesn't have "anything on file from Safeway formally stating project status or revised plans."

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A revised Safeway proposal had been scheduled for discussion at the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting on May 8 last year, but Safeway requested at the time to delay consideration to an unspecified future date.

The revised proposal called for knocking down the 25,956-square-foot store and replacing it with a new grocery and retail space totaling 61,178 square feet, of which 53,000 square feet would have been a podium-style Safeway located above retail shops and parking.

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