A proposal to turn the former Fresh & Easy into a pharmacy has apparently died for lack of a second.
Numerous sources, including Point Loman and attorney Andrew M. Greene, are reporting that CVS Pharmacy withdrew its bid Jan. 29 for the Fresh & Easy lease in the shopping center at 955 Catalina Blvd. in Point Loma.
The proposal, in the past several weeks, has drawn strident opposition from nearby residents, 3,000 or more of whom signed an online petition at change.org to oppose a drug store going in at that site. The site already includes a local pharmacy, Point Loma Cabrillo Drug, as well as a Subway, Cup of Yo and Peet’s Coffee & Tea.
Local reaction was positive.
“Never underestimate the power of the people when they are wronged and are angry,” said Jon Linney, a Peninsula community planner speaking on his own behalf. “I do believe the 3,000-plus signatures was a big part of why CVS backed down.”
Linney was referring to the effort by Mike Ryan and other organizers to gather a change.org petition with upwards of 3,000 petitions, which he noted “was the bulk of the effort.”
Linney believes “the landlord’s opposition and legal intervention took the fight to a higher level.”
“The unanimous vote of the Peninsula Community Planning Board – an easy vote, by the way – showed how united the community was and how senseless a second pharmacy instead of a grocery would be,” he said. “Finally, the Beacon’s front-page story with the latest developments was a fine moment in community journalism.”
Fresh & Easy, a Southern California convenience grocery store chain, recently closed its eight locations in San Diego County, including its Catalina Boulevard site, noting an “organized wind-down” after a failed reorganization as the reason for the closures.
A decision in a Delaware bankruptcy court to determine whether the sale of the former Fresh & Easy store at 955 Catalina Blvd. in Point Loma was legal had been postponed until mid-February.
Native Point Loman Steve Avoyer of Flock and Avoyer commercial real estate, the exclusive leasing agent for the former Fresh & Easy site on Catalina, previously said his firm opposed the site’s being used as a pharmacy rather than a grocery store.
Avoyer noted the site had been a Food Basket, a Lucky and an Albertsons previous to its incarnation as a Fresh & Easy.
“It’s been a market since 1952,” he said adding, “We think it should stay a market.”
Avoyer said it was his firm’s contention all along that Catalina shopping center, constructed in 2005-06 was “meant to be anchored by a grocery store,” pointing out that “it was the only grocery store within two miles.”