Safeway held another community meeting last week where they shared the latest conceptual video of the new La Playa Safeway. For the first time you can see what the exterior architecture and landscaping around the store will look like. The video walks viewers all the way around the property, including views from La Playa and 48th Avenue.
Entrances to the store will be on the corner of La Playa and Fulton, as well as next to the underground parking entrance halfway down the block on La Playa. There is also a retail space planned for the corner of Cabrillo and La Playa.
The only part of the project not yet designed are the condominiums that will be built at the north end of the block. However those will not be built by Safeway, but rather by a future developer. So those are still shown as plain white boxes in the video.
There is still no formal start date for the project, but presumably we’ll have that soon as Safeway embarks on the permitting process. Once construction starts, Safeway estimates it will take 10 months to complete the remodel. The store will remain open during the project.
Sorry there’s no music with the video; just hum something upbeat and classical while you’re watching. 😉
So, what do you think of Safeway’s new look?
Sarah B.
So, how long is the construction supposed to take?
@Gabriel – The remodel is expected to take 10 months (see: https://richmondsfblog.com/2010/11/16/safeway-reveals-latest-renderings-for-la-playaocean-beach-remodel/). Safeway will remain open for business during construction.
Sarah B.
Nice. Though I wonder, how many of those windows are real?
Well, it’s better than what is there now. I don’t see any downside.
They did a good job repositioning the store to face the street at the corner of Fulton and La Playa. My only reservation is the amount of parking. I never see that parking lot full and it seems that being in the Outer Richmond that there would be existing adequate street parking even with the proposed condos.
“Well, it’s better than what is there now. I don’t see any downside.”
While this is an improvement over the current Safeway this design is pretty sad. That blank wall along 48th ave is ridiculous, the amount of that block used for parking is massive, and the overall design is really uninspired. Not trying to be a downer, but those random plantings (aka landscaping) between the building and the sidewalk and at the corner are probably going to look pretty trashy after the “newness” wears off.
Also, I do see a downside. We’ll be stuck with whatever is built for probably at least the next 50 years.
If you want to see what Safeway is capable of building, look no further than one of their newer buildings in Portland!
http://goo.gl/maps/dlTg
@BM – That Portland one is nice, thanks for the link. But it’s also a lot taller all around than what the neighbors are willing to tolerate on 48th Avenue. That’s been one of the major challenges – not blocking the light and views that those residents currently have. Safeway has gotten an earful about it and having attended a couple of meetings, I think they’ve done a good job of tailoring the design to the resident’s needs. Given all that though, I think the design does suffer a bit on that 48th Avenue side. Not sure what you could do with a 10 or 11 foot wall to make it more interesting…
Sarah B.
I HATE big blocky walls facing the street. It is clear thay plan to wall off and build right up to the sidewalk. At present, one can cut thru the parking lot up Cabrillo or Fulton – it’s OPEN. This design looks too much like a walled camp with atria in the middle. A more open design, befitting it’s near ocean front location would be better for locals, especially for those like me who walk to the ocean.
This is awful! Long beige wall expanses will be a taggers dream. Good to see parking somewhat hidden, but
no real creativity. Just that try-to-blend-in-with-the-surroundings earth-tones suburban boring look so prevalent in the West.
I realize that the Portland store is downtown, but I don’t think the scale is really that out of whack. Now keep in mind that I’m not referring to the mid-rise tower behind the Safeway. I think this site could easily support a grocery store with at least 1-2 stories of residential above. I don’t buy the blocking the light or views because there is already a 4 story condo complex west of this, which blocks everyone’s light and views AND pretty much everyone East of this site is slightly up hill. Methinks some people just like to complain.
I think the thing I take the biggest offense to is the orientation to the street and the massive amount of useless blank walls. Compare that to the beautiful glassy fronted Safeway store in Portland, well there really is no comparison.
BM – actually the new design preserves the 48th Ave views for those who still have them now. Obviously, there are some folks in the “40s” who never had ocean views after the condos went up. The 48th Ave residents that originally complained about the impact to their view have now stated that they are satisfied that the new plan satisfies their concern. As you said, everyone East is “uphill” relative to the La Playa condos, so many people do in fact have views they wanted preserved. But please have a little charity. Nobody at these meetings “likes” to complain. It’s a pain in the neck to have to go to these meetings and engage in confrontation. But people understandably don’t want their quality of life eroded because Safeway isn’t willing to come up with a plan that fits in to the community.
But it’s not just the 48th Ave residents that will be impacted. Because they are proposing a two-story stacked garage, residents on the La Playa Street are facing the prospect of “a wall of sound” from cars blasting stereos throughout the night, car alarms going off, etc.
I agree with Roger that they seem to be overbuilding the parking lot, for no readily apparent reason. The parking should go underground or be reduced. But elevating the “open-air” parking to a 2nd-story level is going to concentrate most of the parking noise onto residents of La Playa Street. (Though some folks at the northern half of 48th Ave will also see parking brought closer to them as well.)
I think they’ve done a pretty nice job thus far. The planters & natural landscaping are key, as are the windows on La Playa St. The storefront style looks nice…not too modern or architecturally contrived.
Hopefully the sound problem for La Playa residents will be reduced by the condominium/townhouse ‘wall’ that will be exist between the parking lot and La Playa. The proposed townhouses look much taller than the parking lot so much of the sound may be reflected back away from La Playa. They should definitely hire a sound engineer if they haven’t done so already.
Parking lots make a huge difference. Has anybody been to the Lucky’s on Sloat? It has one (practical) entrance, one-way parking aisles, and very rigid traffic flow in the parking lot. The suburban feel of Safeway’s current wide-open southern parking lot is a HUGE welcoming factor that helps me decide to shop there.
On the rare rainy day when I absolutely have to shop, I will welcome underground parking. But for the other 300 or so days a year, I will curse that bottleneck entrance, the (likely) narrow lanes, and all the support columns that will probably make this feel like a parking prison.
I’d be way more happy with a basic remodel of the existing building, keep the southern parking lot, and convert the northern parking lot into condos.
I think they did a great job of trying to integrate their needs with the neighbors. I’ve been to a few meeting and they were genuinely interested in trying to come to some middle ground. It may not be perfect but it has come a LONG way from the original plans.
Compared to what they have now it looks like a OPEN grocery store. However the parking situation the new one is proposing is horrid, 1) There is not enough, I mean compared to what they have now why in the world would they want to give away all that land they have. If they really want to build out just make a bigger store, the store that is there now is just jam-packed and the one proposed is only about 5-10 feet wider. 2) The parking complex their proposing looks like a great way to attract homeless to urenate,defficate and sleep not to menchen their is already a HUGE problem with homeless. Plus I guarentee you their will be grafitti all over the under ground part, who knows.. maybe on the news you will hear some poor women got raped trying to load grocerys in to her car. Will be the end to late night shopping ? Overall this sounds like a great recipe for riftraft and trouble because safeway wont pay a handful of securety gaurds to patroll the parking lot. That is why I like the open space parking lot they have now because you can see around you and be alert because it is not safe out their esspecially at night. WOW!!! knowing safeway is ready to house the homeless in their grage is frighting! Guess we will have to be looking over our shoulder when we are going to our cars.
I am an architect and a resident of 48th Avenue between Balboa and Cabrillo. The current design of the Safeway structure proposes a blank wall (on the property line?) on 48th Avenue.
This part of 48th Avenue, between Balboa and Fulton connects Sutro Park (at Anza) and the North Windmill in GGP and has been designated by the City as a view corridor (not sure of the official terminology). All the buildings on the west side of 48th Avenue between Balboa and Fulton (including the existing Safeway) are set back from the property line between 5 and 20 feet. these setbacks enhance the views to the park and the windmills and encourage pedestrian traffic on 48th.
The old Safeway, though set back a few feet, provides no landscaping in front of the blank wall. The new building should maintain the setbacks on the west side of 48th and, unlike the existing building, should provide 5 to 10 feet of landscape (significant trees and shrubs) on the Safeway property. A double row of trees–ie. one row of street trees and a matching row of trees on the Safeway property with the sidewalk between–would be a great asset to the street and would help to mitigate the proposed long and blank wall. 48th Avenue is the first single-family residential street inland from Ocean Beach in the Richmond. Safeway should not be proposing a blank and unlandscaped wall on the property line along this street in violation of the existing setbacks and the City’s view corridor plan.