Safeway Inc. is working on a proposal to tear down and rebuild the Rockridge Shopping Center at Broadway and Pleasant Valley Avenue in Oakland.
This isn’t just an average rebuild — the proposal aims for a 322,500-square-foot, Safeway-anchored shopping center to replace the existing 185,462-square-foot center on the 15.4-acre site. That’s a hefty 74 percent increase in space.
A draft environmental impact report is out for the project with the public comment period ending Feb. 25. It will be interesting to see how neighbors respond to the proposal. The Pleasanton-based grocer faced years of opposition for a plan to rebuild another Oakland store just 1.2 miles away. That proposal scored final approval last fall.
Besides Safeway, the Rockridge Shopping Center is home to other retailers such as Chase Bank, Boston Market, Pet Food Express, Dress Barn, Starbucks and CVS Pharmacy.
The existing six buildings were constructed in 1964 and 1965.
The new center, designed by Benner Stange Architects, aims to demolish the existing buildings to make room for new two and three-story structures to house retail and restaurants on the ground floor and office and retail on the upper floors.
Safeway wants to increase its current 48,000-square-foot store with a 65,000-square-foot one.
According to the EIR, Safeway estimates starting construction this July and wrapping up in March 2015.