The Bristol Farms grocery store in Riviera Village will close sometime in August, according to officials from the company, its landlord, and the district’s city councilman. But the same officials say that reports of an impending condominium development at the four acre site – which also includes the Palos Verdes Inn – are unfounded. 

Councilman Steve Aspel fielded several calls from South Redondo constituents after Bristol Farm employees reportedly informed customers the store was being forced to leave by its landlord, Legado Companies. Some neighborhood residents have been wary since the company purchased the site – which is zoned for mixed-use development – that a large-scale residential project would replace the existing buildings. 

Aspel said he spoke Tuesday with Bristol Farms CEO Kevin Davis, who told him that the store had reached a settlement to leave its lease five years early. The cause, Aspel said, was simply that the store was not attracting business. 

“There is no conspiracy to come out and build condos,” Aspel said. “They terminated their lease, not the landlord, so it was just an underperforming store.” 

Davis declined to speak to the press, apparently citing corporate policy, but indicated that Aspel and Legado officials could publically communicate Bristol Farm’s decision. Bristol Farms operates 16 stores and is subsidiary of SuperValu Inc., which also owns Albertsons. 

Legado Chief Operating Officer Derek Jones said that his firm – which earlier this year began a $60 million mixed-use project in Culver City that includes a 32,000 sq. ft. grocery store and 115 apartments – had hoped to partner with Bristol Farms. Discussions had included expanding the store from its current 30,000 sq. ft. to 40,000 sq. ft. 

“We in no way encouraged them to leave early,” Jones said. “On the contrary, we were working hard to figure out a way to keep Bristol Farms – in various iterations of mixed-used residential programs, none of which have been actually finalized.” 

Jones said Bristol Farms informed Legado some months ago that they were considering closing the Redondo Beach store for purely business reasons while retaining higher performing stores in Rolling Hills and Manhattan Beach. Legado purchased the property in 2006 and has been exploring a plan to possibly rehabilitate the hotel, refurbish the grocery store, and add high-end residential apartment units, Jones said. The company will now have to reevaluate its assumptions, he said, but would likely still lean towards something similar in nature. 

“We haven’t committed to any particular program for the hotel, but my sense is a slight reduction in the number of keys in interest of having some larger rooms and perhaps some meeting or banquet facilities would be in line with overarching themes of bringing sort of a mid-century asset more in line with current consumer expectations,” Jones said. 

Jones said that the company would not be seeking any kind of zoning change. He also stressed that Legado are not only developers but also builders who typically operate the properties they build. 

“By contrast, the prototypical developer builds, sells, and leaves the community,” Jones said. “We are making an investment here with an apartment exit and retail component…We are going to be stakeholders in Redondo Beach the next 50-plus years, and that informs the way we approach the entitlement process and the way we approach the community outreach process.” 

He said the company is not at all interested in condominiums at the site. “When it comes to residential – apartments, yes, condos, no,” he said. 

“We are really trying to raise the bar,” Jones added. “Our company’s philosophy is we are trying to make development less of a dirty word. We really want to do right by the community.” 

Aspel said he is sorry to see Bristol Farms go, and noted that he would attempt to put the developers in touch with Whole Foods, another higher-end grocery store that has expressed interest in building in South Redondo. He said Bristol Farms indicated they are interested in finding another, larger location in Redondo. 

“My wife goes, ‘I am going to miss Bristol Farms because it was so easy to shop there – there was never anybody there,’” Aspel said. “That is the problem. People would go shop for their meat there but go shop for diapers at Albertsons. It’s a pretty high-end store….It’s kind of sad. People in South Redondo and South Torrance love that Bristol Farms. It’s kind of devastating for the local economy. I don’t want it to leave.” ER