Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

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CalItalian
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Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by CalItalian »

Opened in 1995. Prior to this building being built, there was a marina style Safeway, turned Vons, that was badly damaged in the January 1994 Northridge earthquake (and some other non-related businesses adjacent to the south & front of this property). After, they cleared the property, they built this Vons. I was there for the grand opening but other than the ample parking and addition of a pharmacy, I was never impressed with this store.

Unclear which supermarket will replace it in the new development. A smaller Pavilions on Montana, another former marina style Safeway that's been added onto over the years, and a long time Vons on Wilshire Blvd. will still exist if this doesn't remain an Albertsons leased store. There are 3 Santa Monica Whole Foods but nothing close to this prime downtown location. Whole Foods previously closed a 5th and Wilshire location that would have been the closest location to this store.

https://urbanize.la/post/260-apartments ... s-property
https://www.smdp.com/downtown-santa-mon ... ing/189504
https://therealdeal.com/la/2020/04/16/r ... ta-monica/
Bluelightspecial
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by Bluelightspecial »

Actually before the current Vons, the previous Vons/Safeway was not a marina store. It predated a marina store.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by klkla »

Bluelightspecial wrote: May 5th, 2020, 9:11 pm Actually before the current Vons, the previous Vons/Safeway was not a marina store. It predated a marina store.
I think you are right on this one. I remember a late 40s or early 50s store that was in the 12,000-15,000 sq ft range. It was a dump, and that’s being nice. The neighborhood wasn’t that desirable and I was surprised that they even bothered with that replacement store. Now fast forward 25 years and the neighborhood has gentrified and that store loses its lease because the property is so valuable now (or was pre-Covid19). Will be interesting to see what happens.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by CalItalian »

This store was looted extensively and partially burned this afternoon during the riot, looting in Santa Monica.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by klkla »

It's been crazy over there this afternoon. Lots of looting and destruction.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by steps »

The issue with these stores in the "better areas" is they do not have roll down metal gates or anything to protect them. They have a false sense of security since they are located in these areas. I think going forward we will see a lot of these stores install gates if they choose to stay in those areas since now they know they are not immune from these types of issues.

This is probably the nail in the coffin for this VONS deciding to fight to stay prior to today's events.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by Alpha8472 »

I hope that one good thing comes out of these riots. Perhaps stores will finally improve their security by adding secure metal gates over their entrances. It is time to fortify the stores and be prepared for battle. They also need plexiglass windows at pharmacies like they have at banks. It is small price to pay to keep their stores from being looted in a repeated basis.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by CalItalian »

klkla wrote: May 31st, 2020, 7:48 pm It's been crazy over there this afternoon. Lots of looting and destruction.
Yes. I'm trying to keep a score card of supermarkets in the L.A. area that have been damaged. I know El Super in Downtown Long Beach, a former newer type Albertsons, was also extensively looted as well as a Superior Grocers in the same city. Also, Saturday, Whole Foods near Farmer's Market was broken into. There might be a video of the Vons in Santa Monica because I've seen live reports on Fox 11 Los Angeles from the entrance. Totally trashed.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by CalItalian »

This is a video of this Vons WHILE it was being looted.
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Re: Downtown Santa Monica Vons Property Owner Plans to Demolish

Post by klkla »

CalItalian wrote: June 4th, 2020, 12:48 pm This is a video of this Vons WHILE it was being looted.
Wow. That's crazy. They thrashed that store. Looks like all the employees abandoned the ship (Not that I blame them).
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