Before the building at 4949 Santa Monica Ave. opened as a CVS Pharmacy this year, Apple Tree Market reigned there as Ocean Beach\u2019s only full-time grocery store. That distinction ended in late 2013 when, after a quarter century, the business lost its lease.
\nSaad Hirmez, who took over the former Safeway in 1989 and didn\u2019t want to leave, has been counting the days until he opens a new store \u2013 literally.
\n“It\u2019s been two years, five months and seven days since we were kicked to the curb against our will,” Hirmez said May 6 at the monthly meeting of the Ocean Beach Planning Board.
\nIf Hirmez sounds bitter about Apple Tree\u2019s demise, he\u2019s equally optimistic about its return. He appeared with preliminary floor plans for a new Apple Tree at the former Bank of America building at 4976 Newport Ave., just a few blocks from the previous location.
\n“We\u2019ve missed the community; we\u2019ve missed doing business here. We\u2019re very excited to come back with a beautiful state-of-the-art building to serve the community,” he said.
\nIt won\u2019t happen as soon as he\u2019d like \u2013 he originally envisioned a July 4 opening \u2013 but Hirmez said he\u2019s making enough progress on obtaining the necessary permits to open “sometime this year.”
\nHirmez said he bought the building in 2001, when he began to have “issues” with his then-landlord, Elliot Megdal, a Los Angeles-based Realtor. The building, most recently the home of Rock Paper Scissors, has been vacant for several years.
\nThe small size of the building will require some adjustments. There won\u2019t be room for detergents, beauty products and other items typically found at a grocery store, Hirmez said. Furthermore, “There\u2019s no reason for it” with the proximity of two drug stores \u2013 CVS and Rite-Aid.
\nBut shoppers who expect and prefer natural foods will not be disappointed, Hirmez said. At least 40 percent of foodstuffs will be organic. “We know the community wants this,” he said.
\nAs for alcohol, Hirmez said police have approved the transfer of his license from the former location to sell beer, wine and spirits \u2013 though final approval from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department is pending. To gain police support, Hirmez said he agreed to several conditions, including: no single cans of beer, no half-pints or miniature bottles of spirits, no fortified wines and no sales after midnight.
\nNo protests were filed when Hirmez applied for alcohol at the new location \u2013 in stark contrast to the contentiousness that erupted when CVS applied for a liquor license at the old Apple Tree location, Hirmez noted. He said it\u2019s a tribute to the solid reputation and goodwill he earned at the previous location.
\n“Zero protests (to a liquor license application) are absolutely unheard of in a beach community. That\u2019s a testament to the community and our neighbors that they want their store back,” he said
\n“Our intention has never been to run a liquor store. Our intention is to run a grocery store,” he added. New board members
\nNancy Kelley (District 2) and Georgia Sparkman (District 7) have been appointed to fill two of the four vacancies on the board. Kelley described herself as a retired vocational rehabilitation counselor and teacher and OB resident since 1971. She mentioned sustainability and climate change as a few of her interests and said she\u2019s eager to dive into the fine points of community planning.
\nSparkman, a 35-year resident, holds a master\u2019s in city planning from San Diego State University and recently retired from the city after nearly three decades as a city planner. Her career at the city began in 1986 as a community planner for Ocean Beach.
\nCitizens seeking appointment to one of the remaining two slots on the board must be at least 18 and live, own property or run a business in the Ocean Beach Community Planning Area. They must also gather 35 signatures in the district they wish to represent. More information is available at oceanbeachplanning.org. Crosswalks on Newport Avenue?
\nStop signs and crosswalks could be coming to two corners near the foot of Newport Avenue \u2013 one of the most heavily traveled areas in Ocean Beach. The city has “evaluated and approved” a four-way stop sign at the Ocean Beach lifeguard station at the corner of Abbott Street and Santa Monica Avenue, Chairman John Ambert said.
\nMore stop signs have been similarly endorsed one block south at Abbott Street and Newport Avenue. There\u2019s no word on when the improvements may be installed, but city officials have told the board some $20,000 was available for pedestrian enhancements in Ocean Beach, Ambert said. Ambert has identified five areas of need and has pitched his ideas at recent board meetings and on social media. People\u2019s Co-Op expansion plans
\nPreliminary plans for an organic juice bar and cafe with residential units on top at the site of the former Tiny\u2019s Tavern, 4745 Voltaire St., could be released in as little as a month. That\u2019s from Jim Kase, store manager at Ocean Beach People\u2019s Food Co-Op, which purchased the property early this year.
\nDiscussions are under way with the architect Hanna Gabriel Wells, and the Co-op is eager to get public feedback on the design, Kase said. The proposal will likely call for demolishing Tiny\u2019s, which is actually three buildings cobbled together and not up to code; and the adjacent duplex, he said. The Co-op\u2019s current parking lot would be expanded, and the multi-use building would be constructed on the east side.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before the building at 4949 Santa Monica Ave. opened as a CVS Pharmacy this year, Apple Tree Market reigned there as Ocean Beach\u2019s only full-time grocery store. That distinction ended in late 2013 when, after a quarter century, the business lost its lease. Saad Hirmez, who took over the former Safeway in 1989 and didn\u2019t […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":279712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Apple Tree Market may sprout again in Ocean Beach","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}