San Rafael Safeway Targeted for Housing Redevelopment

The Bay Area’s Safeway redevelopment spree has crossed the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County.

Mill Creek Residential is proposing to replace the Safeway at 700 B Street in downtown San Rafael with a 331-unit apartment building, the Marin Independent Journal reported. The developer filed plans to demolish the grocery store and erect an eight-story, nearly 377,000-square-foot residential building.

Of the 331 apartments, 28 would be designated as affordable housing. Florida-based Mill Creek submitted the application under Senate Bill 330, which streamlines housing approvals and limits opportunities for projects to be delayed.

Unlike several other Safeway redevelopment proposals across the Bay Area, the San Rafael project does not include plans for a replacement grocery store. Align Real Estate is pursuing similar projects in the region, including the transformation of a Trader Joe’s in Oakland, but that plan also doesn’t include a replacement grocery store. Align’s other redevelopment efforts include a Safeway in San Mateo and three in San Francisco, including a controversial 790-unit tower in the Marina District.

Mill Creek’s proposal is the seventh known redevelopment involving a Safeway-owned or leased property in the region. If all move forward, the projects would deliver 4,623 housing units across the Bay Area.

Local neighborhood leaders say the Safeway store in San Rafael has struggled with theft and operational issues but remains an important amenity for residents, particularly as thousands of apartments are planned or under construction downtown.

“People depend on it — I know I do,” Amy Likover, president of the Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods, told the Chronicle. “No one is against housing. We want to make sure the newly housed people have a place to shop and those people already around there have a place to shop [and] that it’s a thoughtful project instead of being such a rush.”

Downtown San Rafael is seeing a deluge of proposed apartment projects amid a region-wide housing crunch. About 2,000 units in the city have been approved and 360 are under construction, including Mill Creek’s 210-unit project at 930 Irwin Street. The city must adhere to a state-mandated housing planning goal of 3,220 new units by 2031.

— Chris Malone Méndez