Hollister officials are preparing a request for proposal that
seeks a developer for a shopping center and YMCA facility at the
site of the former Leatherback properties along McCray Street and
Prospect Avenue.
Hollister officials are preparing a request for proposal that seeks a developer for a shopping center and YMCA facility at the site of the former Leatherback properties along McCray Street and Prospect Avenue.
A local grocer, however, says the city should reconsider spending local tax dollars to bring in another out-of-town grocery chain to compete within a mile or two of existing stores such as Hollister Super (Baler Market,) Save Mart and Safeway.
The buildings and land owned by the former roofing materials manufacturer were purchased by the city’s Redevelopment Agency for $4 million and the structures are being demolished to make room for future development.
In November, an RDA report said the vacant site “has been sitting vacant, abandoned and under-utilized for three years” and that staff has been meeting with “interested parties” over the past nine months to determine how much interest there is in developing the site.
Representatives of the Mi Pueblo Food Center, whose Web site says it has 14 stores that sell “Latin American food products” throughout Northern California, have been in contact with the city, but RDA Program Manager Bill Chow said no deal has been reached with the chain.
“If we get a proposal from them, then that would be a proposal we’d consider,” said Chow, who said such a chain “would meet the needs of additional segments of the population. Mi Pueblo was one of the interested businesses, but whether the RDA will select that proposal – it has to be the best available.”
Jim Gibson, co-owner of the Hollister Super and Baler Market grocery stores in Hollister as well as Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista, said that while “Mi Pueblo has every right to do business here, it seems a little odd to me that the Redevelopment Agency is involved in bringing another grocer to town.”
“If bringing more retail to town was the answer, then Gilroy wouldn’t have the problems it has,” he said. “If the natural course of economic events brings Mi Pueblo to town, then we’ll deal with it. I told the City Council, acting as the RDA board, that it was a little un-kosher. The RDA seems to me to be using tax dollars that we’ve contributed to try to attract another grocery store. I think Mi Pueblo will come here one way or another, but pick something we don’t have.”
See the Pinnacle on Friday for the full story.
