At the July 20th general meeting of the Planning Association for the Richmond, Safeway will share its latest plans for the Ocean Beach / La Playa Safeway remodel.
Back in February, Safeway held the latest in a series of community meetings where they shared a conceptual video of the new La Playa store. For the first time neighbors could see what the exterior views and landscaping around the store would look like.
The video, shown above, walks viewers all the way around the property, including views from La Playa and 48th Avenue.
According to the project website, Safeway is currently working with specialists on landscape architecture, sound, and vehicle/bicycle/pedestrian circulation in response to neighbor questions.
Safeway also submitted their Preliminary Project Assessment (PPA) to the city on June 11 from which Safeway will receive initial feedback and procedural instructions.
Safeway anticipates submitting a formal development application to the city this fall, which will then go through the usual planning channels for review and approval.
Once construction is started, the remodel of the Ocean Beach / La Playa Safeway is expected to take 10 months. The store will remain open during the project.
The PAR general meeting will be held at the Richmond District Recreation Center, 251 18th Avenue, from 7pm until 9pm.
Sarah B.
What happened to the design with retail on the Fulton side? The empty wall across 48th Avenue seems like a complete waste.
In either case, this is significantly better than the current Safeway. I stopped going to it after I realized how much cleaner the Noriega sunset is and how few “questionable” patrons there are. Maybe I’ll start going to the La Playa one again?
@Serge – From my recollection, neighbors were very upset with the overall height of the store. Safeway took a lot of that feedback and came back with this modified design which wouldn’t allow for additional retail space on the Fulton side. More background in this article from November:
https://richmondsfblog.com/2010/11/16/safeway-reveals-latest-renderings-for-la-playaocean-beach-remodel/
Sarah B.
@Sarah: Thanks for the info. I remember reading about the neighbors complaining, so I guess they got their wish. If I were in the area, I would love having some new street retail on the Fulton side. Some cafes and restaurants, maybe with seating on the sidewalk (unlikely, but who knows). There are the La Playa shops, but that’s a sad and depressing development.
Either way, good to see this making progress.
That safeway has needed a remodel for years and it is great itt finnaly is going to be but I have a huge problem with that underground parking lot, why dont they just put the parking on the roof like fresh and easy does? If they do the underground parking it will be a magnet for homless to sleep, urenate, deficate. The new design does not address the problem with the homeless it actually gives them a place to sleep and harass people. Plus I am sure there will be plenty of grafiti.
Not trying to be a downer, but YIKES. What an uninspired design, though who can blame them when you have to try and please every one.
Blank walls galore. “Nature band-aids” (aka landscaping) between the sidewalk and the building that will probably just collect trash blowing in the wind. The 48th Avenue side is especially atrocious with a blank wall that spans nearly the entire block. While this IS an improvement over the existing Safeway, being proud of this would be like patting yourself on the back for getting a D- instead of an F. I really wish Safeway had gone for something more bold and functional.
@BAM – it’s a conceptual video only that does not represent what the final exterior surfaces will be. In the last meeting I went to, they were considering many different types of materials and looks. So use the video as more of a tool to understand the space and don’t focus too much on the exterior look and feel. We’ll hopefully see more of that detail in the July 20 meeting.
Sarah B.
It may not be perfect, but it’s a vast improvement over the present store.
What an absolute waste to be rebuilding an entire block and not putting at least a couple hundred units of housing in with it. Those blank walls would be immensely better with some stoops for entries to housing units.
WHY do we need more housing? Why do we need more Lebensraum? We have more than enough people packed into this town like so many sardines.