IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Walmart will not be coming to La Verne.
One year after the retail giant proposed putting a neighborhood store in the Foothill Plaza shopping center, the facility’s owner, Combined Properties Inc. in Beverly Hills, has announced that its lease agreement with Walmart has been terminated.
That leaves La Verne without a major sales tax generator and the shopping mall at Foothill Boulevard and Wheeler Avenue without a much-needed anchor tenant, said Hal Fredericksen, La Verne’s community development director.
Both sides agreed to end the agreement after one year of legal battles and protests from some city residents, who argued that the store would hurt other grocers in the city and disrupt neighborhoods near Foothill Plaza.
Both parties were scheduled to go to court next month regarding a lawsuit filed by Keeping La Verne Strong, a community group opposed to the project.
“They both agreed that, not matter who won, the decision would be appealed and that would mean two more years of litigation,” Fredericksen said. “It wasn’t worth it, especially to Walmart. They have deals working all over.”
The 39,500-square-foot space has been empty since Stein Mart vacated it November 2012. In May, Frisella’s Roastery, a restaurant that had been at Foothill Plaza for more than 20 years also closed.
“That might have been the final straw,” Fredericksen said. “[Frisella’s] was an institution within the community.”
La Verne has added 300 housing units within the last two and a half years, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the Inland region, so it should be possible to find a tenant for the space. The challenge will be to do it quickly.
“We have other tenants there that are getting nervous, because anchor tenants are what drive traffic,” Fredericksen said. “By themselves, the smaller tenants won’t do it.”
