Grocery Store Chain to Move into Vacant Diamond Bar Ralphs in 2014

The tenant set to take over the vacant Ralphs in Diamond Bar will locate at the shopping center in 2014, but the national retailer isn't ready to reveal its identity publicly just yet, City Manager James DeStefano said.

DeStefano gave a report on the various shopping centers in town Tuesday night at the Diamond Bar City Council meeting after Nancy Lyons, a council candidate, asked what officials are doing to fill vacant store fronts, specifically the Ralph's site.

"That storefront has been empty for over two years," Lyons said. "Without a Ralph's we have fewer opportunities for grocery shopping, and without a Ralph's, the other stores in that center find it harder to survive."

DeStefano said like other cities in the region and across the nation, Diamond Bar has felt the effects of the recession in the last few years but is not as bad off as many other communities.

"Good or bad we did not lose big box retailers and automobile dealers and so forth, because we did not have that," he said.

Ralphs decided to shutter several stores a couple of years, including the one in the Diamond Bar Town Center at Diamond Bar Boulevard and Grand Avenue.

Earlier this year, Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. purchased the shopping center for $27.8 million, according to a company news release. A spokeswoman declined to name any specific tenants when contacted by email, however a December news release about the purchase did identify a grocery chain.

"The shopping center is approximately 107,000 square feet and is anchored by Wal-Mart, featuring Wal-Mart's new grocery-store format," officials said. "The property is located in Diamond Bar, California, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area and is currently 91.2% leased."

DeStefano said the new owners plan to re-paint and re-sign the center and have retailers moving in, including the mystery grocery store tenant.

He added that the style and layout of the planned market is similar to the Smart & Final Extra that Lyons suggested the city look into.  The city did approach Smart & Final but the company turned Diamond Bar down, he said.

DeStefano said that Diamond Bar did contact companies the community has clamored for such as Bristol Farms and Trader Joe's, but both declined to move to Diamond Bar.

Besides the 40,000-square foot market, another retailer is planned for the Diamond Bar Town Center. The center formerly had a Boston Store, which subsequently became a couple of bank branches over the years.  That site will either become a the location of a fitness center with a national name or a sporting goods retailer, DeStefano said. The proposal for that site should be coming before the Planning Commission in the next couple of months, he said.

Other centers in the city are still doing well, he added.

Diamond Hills Plaza on the city's south end is fully leased and the former Unocal service station on that side of town is to become a car maintenance business.

The Albertsons-anchored site also is doing well, recently adding the Grand Army-Navy Surplus Store, he said.

The northern end of the city is struggling some. The Vons-anchored shopping plaza is doing well, but the K-Mart center is having a hard time, he said.

"The K-Mart property is still a challenge," he said, adding that the company has been on the edge of bankruptcy for years.

Also struggling is the center where the Acapulco was once located, DeStefano said, adding that it is largely do to poor visibility and access.

As for the Honda site, the city is working on a marketing plan, but it is dependent on whether or not a football stadium goes in next door in the City of Industry.

The city lost Diamond Bar Honda before the recession, with the owners wanting to move to the City of Industry close to other dealerships, he said.

The Gateway Corporate Center, where City Hall is located, suffered during the recession but has since rebounded, he added.

DeStefano said the city has studied its permitting process and business fees to make sure Diamond Bar is attractive to potential businesses.

Councilwoman Ling-Ling Chang said she has attended a couple of meetings with retailers and the city manager and when companies are looking a locations, they study the population density for three-to-five mile radius.

Diamond Bar is different from other communities in that there are large swaths of open space between neighboring cities such as Chino Hills, Brea, and Walnut, she said.

"When they look at the radius, the pop density isn't there," she said. "The traffic counts are great, the average income is phenomenal, but they look at a very strict formula when they come to calculating this stuff."

DeStefano said the city will continue to push.

"There will be vacancies," he said.  "There will be turnover, but we've been pretty fortunate to have business turn over rather quickly."