Neighbors Ink New Deal for Lucky on Clement St.

by Carol Dimmick

Two years after negotiating an agreement to bring a Lucky supermarket to the Outer Richmond District, the Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association (LPNA) signed a second agreement last month that clears the way for a smaller store to be built on the site this winter.

Just as the ink was drying on the first agreement in March of 1999, a plan to build a 43,780-square-foot Lucky at the corner of 32nd Avenue and Clement Street was temporarily shelved after Albertson's, Inc. negotiated an $8.3 billion buyout of American Stores Properties, Inc. (ASPI), the parent company of Lucky.

The $13.2 billion mega-merger of the two supermarket giants also sparked a shuffle of top executives at Albertson's, which now operates about 2,400 stores in 38 states, with annual sales of about $37 billion.

After the dust settled from the merger, top management for Albertson's scaled back plans for the Clement Street store by almost 10,000 square feet to keep the project within budget, according to Stacia Levenfeld, a spokesperson for the company.

Jim Argo, president of LPNA, credits Albertson's with the vision to go ahead with a smaller store at the site and believes the project will be welcomed by the neighborhood.

"This is one of the great victories for the city," Argo said.

Representatives from Albertson's are also looking forward to serving the Outer Richmond neighborhood. Officials for the company say they could break ground for the new project as early as this winter if the plan has smooth sailing through the city's review process.

"We are optimistic that the project will move forward and create a compatible neighborhood grocery store," Levenfeld said.

Traffic, Noise and Parking Still Concerns

By signing the agreement, the powerful neighborhood association agreed not to oppose the project as it goes through the public approval process in exchange for a number of concessions. But concerns raised earlier about increased traffic and noise at the new store are expected to remain.

The new store will be almost 10,000-square feet smaller than the 43,780-square-foot mega-store envisioned in the 1999 agreement, with most of the slicing and dicing coming from the elimination of an underground storage area.

While the scaled-back version eliminates some space that was designed for storage, Argo is confident that Albertson's will meet the challenge.

"We are relying on Albertson's to be more efficient (with its deliveries)," he said.

However, Levenfeld says the new plan will not significantly impact deliveries because most of the space that was eliminated was designed for offices and a lunchroom area for employees.

Levenfeld said additional storage areas have been incorporated into the new design, so Albertson's does not anticipate problems with deliveries.

"We had to shrink the square footage in the sales area to accommodate those needs," she explained.

Hours of Operation, Truck Size, and Delivery Schedules Unchanged

Like the former design, the new store will have a Mediterranean motif and extensive landscaping. Albertson's also agreed to honor a prior concession to donate $500,000 towards the revamping of the Lincoln Park Playground, which sits adjacent to the site.

The new store is expected to bring more traffic to a corner that already serves as a commuter corridor for the neighborhood. Argo acknowledged that the new store will increase traffic and says the city may have to keep a close watch on the Muni buses that serve the neighborhood.

"Traffic will be greater than it has been in many, many years," Argo said.

Under the new agreement, the store's hours of operation are from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. It also limits the size of trucks Albertson's can use to 45 feet with delivery hours from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Direct access truck deliveries from suppliers will be able to deliver from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The new store will have all 140 parking spaces the association negotiated two years ago.

As well, a strip of land that abuts the backyards of the homes on Marble Court has been reserved for the construction of housing units.

"A quasi, public-private coalition has expressed an interest in developing housing there before and we reserved a possibility for this," he said.

Western Addition Albertson's Nears Completion

In April of 1999, before the buyout of Lucky by Albertson's, the SF Planning Commission approved a Conditional Use Permit for a 52,000-square-foot Lucky supermarket, retail spaces and more than 300 parking spaces and 135 condominiums at Fulton Street and Masonic Avenue in the Western Addition. The shopping center was the former home for more than 40 years to Falletti's Finer Foods, a small, popular family-owned grocery chain.

At that time, representatives for Lucky said the company wanted a major presence in San Francisco. After the buyout, Albertson's announced a five-year plan that included renovating 750 food and drug stores and converting more than 400 Lucky supermarkets in California and Las Vegas as Albertson's units. The name change gives Albertson's the largest store count in California.

In October, Albertson's is expected to unveil its long-range plan for a greater presence in the Bay Area in more detail.