September 21, 2007

Community, business leaders discuss Lunardi’s situation

Residents eager for new grocer to take Lunardi’s place; restaurants, sports bar ideas also discussed at Sept. 12 meeting

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

More than 200 people from the Evergreen area attended a meeting on Sept. 12 to discuss the closing of Lunardi’s Market and the steps necessary to preserve the remaining shops, as well as putting a new grocery or other anchor store in its place.

The meeting consisted of a panel made up of Vice Mayor Dave Cortese, Shapell Industries of Northern California (owner of the center) Vice President Kelly Erardi, San Jose Chief Development Officer Paul Krutko, San Jose Assistant Planning Director Laurel Prevetti and Citizens for Evergreen representative Rose Herrera.

The meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, included short presentations from Erardi and Herrera followed by a question/answer period. Herrera requested those attending to continue their involvement. She began the petition campaign as soon as she found out Lundari’s was closing. She called the Village Square “a town center” where neighbors meet, mingle and get to know each other.

The meeting produced plenty of good input from the public, Cortese told the Times. Both Erardi and Krutko clearly “are committed to pursue a new grocery store [for the Lunardi’s former site] and in the interim to provide support for the remaining shop owners,” Cortese said.

Erardi, who has been involved with the Evergreen Village Square for the past few years, noted that attorneys for both Shappell and Lunardi’s are dealing with the lease that the grocery store broke. However, in the meantime, the developer has contacted Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market to operate until a new grocer is located. In addition, the Village Square summer concert series will continue into the fall.

As for a replacement tenant, Erardi said Shapell is talking with other stores and hopes to find a “replacement of similar caliber” soon. During public questions, a large portion of the participants, including one who represented 30 residents of the Villages, asked if Shappell had spoken to Trader Joe’s.

Krutko said the city has significant relationships with these types of retailers and staff is ready to work with Shappell and commercial brokers to make something happen. However, he also said that if Shappell and Trader Joe’s can come to an agreement, that people must support the store by shopping there.

Herrera added that of all the petition respondents, 90 percent indicated a preference for a Trader Joe’s. Erardi said he also recognizes the wide support for Trader Joe’s. With help from the city, Shapell will pursue them, Erardi noted. Shapell would also be interested in working with the community to understand the neighborhood demographics in order to place a store that will thrive there. Attendees, to a lesser extent, were also interested in Whole Foods and Nob Hill.

Shapell hopes to install signs at Aborn and White and at Aborn and Ruby in order to attract more customers to the Evergreen Village Square. Cortese agreed to aide in providing approvals for those signs. In a Sept. 6 article published by the Times, Cortese said the placement of Evergreen Village Square, away from major streets, could have hurt business for Lunardi’s.

Other questions included splitting the space formerly occupied by Lunardi’s and combining a food store with a sit-down restaurant. Attendees appeared enthusiastic about a new restaurant, and Erardi agreed that a sports bar, an Indian restaurant or a pizza parlor would be a good addition to the square.

Businesses currently occupy 125,000 square feet at Evergreen Village Square, but it is also necessary to have an anchor store to bring in traffic, panelists said. Erardi noted that several restaurants have approached Shappell to locate here. However, he said those restaurants were undercapitalized. He also was unsure there would be enough daytime traffic to support that idea.

Both Krutko and Erardi explained that the city and Shappell would continue to help Evergreen Village Square businesses in the interim. But the city’s help, Krutko said, is limited. Since Evergreen Village Square is not a redevelopment area, he said it would be hard to provide those types of funding with most city subsidized projects coming from state-approved redevelopment areas, “areas that are defined to have a certain amount of blight and neglect.” However, he said limited reserves in the General Fund may provide some help.

Erardi said Shappell has made the deals with each of the businesses at Evergreen Village Square. If tenants are experiencing any issues, he vowed to work with them one-to-one. Another business owner added that they were induced to come to Evergreen Village Square based on the promise of restaurants and gateway signage. Erardi said he hopes signs would be installed in the next two months.