north park news march 2008
north park news keeps delivering the fresh goods on np and until they get a website i'm going to keep relaying it here - i hope they don't mind. the biggest news is that the lease on the big lots store on university will not be renewed when it expires in may. this has to be the messiest big lots i've been in, so it will be a big improvement to get some tenants who care about how the place looks. and getting rid of a glorified dollar store says a lot about north park's upswing.
one idea for the building would be to divide up the store into several retail/dining spaces, and convert the upstairs floors (currently offices?) into lofts. given its proximity to the art district on ray street, how about some artists lofts like the (former?) ones above hooters in the gaslamp? lots of potential for this big space.
mje inc. has purchased the former shooterz on 30th. they run three sports bars in san diego beach communities and i'm wondering how that concept would fly in north park...
cafe carpe diem is moving into the space vacated by caffe forte at 3139 university; forte is moving into the nearby tent dancing building which recently had its scaffolding removed. not sure what tent dancing means; only northparkscene.com refers to it as that. cool building, but the peach color i'm seeing on my laptop isn't exactly inspiring...
sugar ltd is moving from adams ave in normal heights to fern in south park and will be re-christened as junc boutique and gallery. i'm sad to see sugar go - apart from cafe cabaret it was about the only interesting spot on that stretch of adams. that is a tough location though. the coffee shop that preceeded cafe cabaret in that space was named cornerstone, but we called it tombstone since it was always dead - and it closed within a year.
there's also a good interview with the sushi chef at the newly-opened north park sushi who brings 32 years of experience to town. and there's a big article on an irving gill house "renovation" that made the property more aligned with gill's vision, which was a treat for me and my current gill obsessiveness.
too much good stuff - support the advertisers in north park news so this publication can continue to keep us updated on north park's turnaround.
posted by Paul Jamason @ 2/27/2008 09:26:00 PM
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The guys at MJE have a good track record of neighborhood engagement at the beach and at their other places on Morena Blvd. and in Tempe. This is a good win for NP.
Ben
that's good to know, thanks ben. sounds like they will be a welcome addition to north park.
The business formerly known as sugar is named "junc boutique" on the FBN website, rather than "june boutique." In any case, I think the owner (who has a weird record of occultish junk shops) would do better to use "june" over "junc" - kind of silly to try to upscale the term "junk." South Park has seen a kazillion junk-type shops come and go for the past +30 years. How long any of them last depends on a variety of circumstances, but as one of the probable higher income group residents, I don't want or need junk. I do want good, low-cost fresh veggies, such as at Gala. No matter the lack of aesthetics of the store (a cool paint job and a few awnings would solve a lot), the owners provide a great local grocery. The carne and sirloin are very low price and excellent quality; there is a range of low- to moderately priced wine, and 19-cent cilantro, cheap tomatoes, and other veggies that can't be had at even close to the Gala price at the chains. What do you hear about Gala leaving us without a local store? I heard that they were gone by May, with CVS filling in for the unfulfilled Gina Cain-Champion (or is it Champion-Cain? hyphenated names are annoying) development, a monster of 60 residential units crammed onto the lot. Any development updates?
junc boutique sounds right - my eyes are going i guess. maybe north park news can print a jumbo text version for the rapidly aging like myself.
no info on gala but i'll look into it.
It's good to know that the new owner of Shooterz might actually care about the neighborhood (unlike the KFC remodel nearby). I'm hoping whatever they do, it won't bring in too many "Bridge and Tunnel" people (aka the north of 8 and Gaslamp tools) into the neighborhood..lol
North Park needs to keep its edge.
I've only driven by the Gala store in South Park. Is it possible that they can incorporate it into the new development by Champion-Cain?
I found the website on the development, called South Park Marketplace. Perhaps someone can speak to the developer and ask more questions. [url]http://www.americannationalinvestments.com/current-projects/southpark.html[/url]
Given the state of the current housing market, I can't see this one getting off the ground soon.
For some reason, the link is messed up. Website is americannationalinvestments.com
Click current projects, then South Park Marketplace to read more about it
Here's the scoop: ANI entered into a purchase contract with the Gala owners in 2005, then supposedly failed to get permit approval from the city to develop the lot with 100 condos. (The design plan on the website has 60 condos. Don't know why they haven't taken the plan down; it doesn't appear that they own the store or lot.) So ANI tried to back out of the purchase and wanted their deposit back. The Gala owners said no, and sued for breach of contract (see Superior Court records online). ANI counter-sued. The title company sued. Gala owners still hold the deed, per the assessor's website, and have been reassessed for the taxes they didn't have to pay during the period when the lot was in escrow. Bottom line, the community needs this grocery store. It is within walking distance of most of South Park and has much better prices than do the chain supers. Why do we have to be deprived of our grocery? We need a grocery store that is at least this size. The much smaller Food Bowl is no substitute. Why do the wealthy developers and investors look only to build condos, bars, and restaurants? Please Gala owners, we need you. Stay with us. We are a mostly a single-family suburb of downtown with many middle-class, working-class families, not a commercial party zone or an infill target. We don't need more bars. We need broccolli, and not at Von's prices.
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I'm all for keeping a grocery store in South Park, but don't you agree that redeveloping the Gala Foods block would be a benefit to the neighborhood? I don't mean a multi-story project, rather they could incorporate a supermarket within a modest mixed use development. Just a thought
We DO have a site now.
North Park News
thanks, i added a link in the sidebar
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