BUSINESS
Trader Joe’s is eyeing Montrose for a potential new location and has proposed terms for a ground lease agreement at a site on Honolulu Avenue, the company and city officials said Thursday.
Representatives for the grocery store chain, popular for its low-cost selection of natural foods, would not elaborate on the potential agreement, but confirmed that it is on the table. The chain already has locations in La Crescenta and Glendale.
The City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to authorize city officials to develop an agreement with Trader Joe’s, ending more than a year of speculation that the company had set its sights on the area.
Trader Joe’s is interested in leasing a city-owned, 45,000-square-foot lot at the intersection of Honolulu and Orangedale avenues, previously home to a Ford dealership, said Councilman John Drayman, who serves as chairman of the Redevelopment Agency.
If Trader Joe’s opts to build a store at the site, which sits across the street from the Montrose branch library and fire station, it would create an immediate draw and anchor tenants on the west end of the Montrose Shopping Park, which has struggled to boost foot traffic for years, Drayman said.
A lease with a tenant like Trader Joe’s would not only provide the area with a revenue source, but would fulfill a need in the community, he said.
The only major grocery store in the Montrose area is a small Vons that residents have not been satisfied with, he said.
Demand for a store like Trader Joe’s became clear when Glendale officials launched a major effort in 2007 to survey residents about what types of retailers they want in the area, he said.
