A portion of the River Park Shopping Center, now occupied by a
new Fresh East market, is for sale. The price for the 19,204
square-foot building, owned by Rudd Properties, is $7.2
million.
Before the recession hit, owners of the rest of the center, Napa
Riverpark LP, looked to redevelop the majority of the mall, but
those plans stalled.
Today, even with the prospect of a new owner for the middle
section, extensive redevelopment of the rest of River Park shopping
center seems unlikely, said real estate broker Randy Gularte of
Heritage Sotheby’s International Realty.
Whoever buys the Fresh Easy building will likely be
looking for an investment property, not a redevelopment
opportunity, since Fresh Easy just finished completely
renovating its building and holds a
20-year lease, he said.
“The rest of the mall has to operate around that building,” he
said. With Fresh Easy in the middle, “the configuration of
River Park will stay the same for a long time,” he predicted.
“I think it depends on who buys it,” said Jennifer LaLiberté
with the city’s economic development department.
If the owner of the rest of the mall buys the Fresh Easy
section, “it becomes an anchor they can develop around. I don’t
think that freestanding building will preclude the rest of mall
from repositioning if the market can support that,” LaLiberté
said.
“It would be ideal if the entire thing were owned by the same
entity so the property could reposition in a cohesive manner. But I
don’t think that’s a 100 percent necessity,” she said.
The Fresh Easy building is in the middle of River Park.
For many years, the building was home to a Vallerga’s grocery
store. After the Vallerga’s closed in 2005, a gym occupied the
building for a short time.
Fresh Easy opened this April, several years after signing
a lease. The British food chain completed an extensive remodel of
the space, which was built in 1964.
Fresh Easy doesn’t occupy the entire space. It’s looking
to sublease 3,520 square feet of the north side of the
building.
The ownership of the Imola Avenue center is made up two separate
groups. Rudd Properties, or ZR River Park LLC, owns the middle
Fresh Easy section.
Napa Riverpark LP, also known as Rutherford Investments, owns
the majority of the rest of River Park Shopping Center. ZR River
Park LLC also owns
2 percent of that larger section.
A new owner won’t impact the Fresh Easy market, Brendan
Wonnacott, communications director for Fresh Easy
Neighborhood Market, said.
“It’s business as usual,” he said. “It’s a great spot for a
store. We’ve had fantastic reception since we’ve opened and we look
forward to serving the neighborhood for many more years,” Wonnacott
said.
At least eight retail spaces are for lease inside the mall,
including a former video store, alterations/dress shop, mailing
service, hair salon, appliance store, western wear store and coffee
shop.
On Wednesday, construction workers were seen inside the former
video rental store and many vacant units have “for lease” signs on
them.
A representative with Rudd Properties said he was unable to
comment on the listing. A representative with Rutherford
Investments could not be reached on this story.