Marketplace Property on Road to Renovation

Rising from a dirt lot along a stretch of Vanowen Street, the Reseda Marketplace is little more than bricks and beams these days. In about two months, however, the shell will be transformed into a spacious grocery store.

On Thursday, city officials and community members gathered at the dusty site to herald the construction effort, part of a city program to revitalize areas left decrepit and blighted after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

“This is a happy day,” beamed City Councilwoman Laura Chick, standing in front of what will become an 88,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a Ralphs supermarket. The $10.4-million project will replace a shopping center that was destroyed by the quake.

For Chick, the development represents more than an opportunity for economic recovery and the creation of new jobs--it’ll also be a nice place to shop.

“I have been feeling guilty that I have been doing my shopping out of my district,” she said, confessing that she has been visiting a swanky Encino supermarket since the quake.

Under the Community Redevelopment Agency’s Commercial Industrial Earthquake Recovery Loan Program, developer Snyder Commercial received $1.3 million to purchase the property. Additional funding will be provided by Synder and City National Bank.

Once the speeches concluded, it was time for the final bit of ceremonial business. Wielding a thick, black pen, each speaker stepped forward to autograph the last steel beam that will be added to the market’s frame.

Chick noted that her scrawl will only be glimpsed by a demolition crew in the distant future but added a few personal touches alongside her signature: a smiley face and a heart surrounding the word “Reseda.”

The grocery store is expected to open in November.

Other future businesses will include a coin laundry, a pet supply store and a video rental outlet.