Retail Infusion Proposed for Decaying Solano 80

Retail Infusion Proposed for Decaying Solano 80
Vallejo Officials Say Master plan Includes FoodsCo Warehouse
By DAN JUDGE/Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald

A rundown shopping center in the underserved southern portion of Vallejo may be getting a new lease on life.

A developer has proposed a major makeover of Solano 80, a 1960s-era retail center that has fallen on hard times.

"There currently is a significant market void in the southern half of Vallejo," said developer John Jay with the Jay-Phares Corporation. "Upon completion, this would be 140,000 square feet of retail which we would hope would be the predominant retail complex to serve southern Vallejo."

The nearly 11-acre site that once was home to an Albertsons supermarket sits, as its name suggests, along Interstate 80 off Solano Avenue.

The center now has some smaller tenants surrounding the apparent anchor, a Rite Aid pharmacy now using only a portion of its interior space.

Jay said a master plan has been submitted to the city that calls for all existing buildings to be demolished except the one housing Rite Aid. The drug store would move into a new 17,300-square-foot structure with a drive-through, he said.

Vallejo planning officials said the site plans also identify one building for a FoodsCo warehouse grocery store. On Tuesday, however, Jay and representatives of the Kroger Co. of Cincinnati, one of the nation's largest grocery retailers and owner of FoodsCo, would not confirm its participation.

In addition to those stores, Jay said the new Solano 80 would include a revamped Taco Bell, Anna's Linens, Rainbow Apparel and "a number of other national and regional chain stores."

"We are especially pleased to be bringing a state-of-the-art retail complex to the multi-cultural populace of southwestern Vallejo," Jay said.

Vallejo Development Services Director Brian Dolan said plans for the store have only begun the planning process, and public hearings are not yet scheduled.

He added that there are traffic issues that must still be addressed, including an entrance that may be dangerously close to an Interstate 80 onramp and offramp.

Nevertheless, Dolan said the rehabilitation of Solano 80 would be a significant plus for the city.

"I think it's very important because it's an eyesore, and it's right on the freeway," Dolan said. "It doesn't present itself to the Vallejo community internally very well, either."

Jay-Phares Corporation is a contract developer for Solano 80's Richmond-based owner C. Overaa & Co., which originally built the center.

E-mail Dan Judge at UBDJudge@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6831.