A new grocer is negotiating with Safeway to move into a Green Bay Road building that previously housed a Dominick’s store.
Paul Zalmezak, Evanston’s economic development coordinator, updated Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl’s grocery store working group at the group’s first meeting Wednesday. The committee was established to address two retail spaces — 2748 Green Bay Rd. and 1910 Dempster St. — left vacant after Dominick’s left the Chicago area last month.
The group discussed the uncertain future for the two spaces and initiatives to attract potential grocers to Evanston.
Zalmezak said a grocer was currently negotiating with Safeway, which owned Dominick’s, and the Green Bay Road property owner to potentially take over the Pleasanton, Calif.-based company’s lease. Zalmezak said he was unable to disclose specifics on the potential deal. Safeway was also reluctant to share information, he said.
“We’re trying to be sensitive to the ongoing negotiations, which we literally have no control over,” Zalmezak added. “It’s a Safeway process.”
The group also discussed Evanston Plaza shopping center, where Evanston’s other Dominick’s was located. An independent grocer from the Centrella co-op will likely fill the former Dominick’s location on Dempster Street, Zalmezak said. Centrella, or Central Grocers, Inc., is a grocery cooperative of local independent grocers, according to its website.
Evanston Plaza has multiple vacant lots. Scott Inbinder, principal of the group which owns Evanston Plaza, said several potential retailers backed out of moving into Evanston Plaza after the Dominick’s closure was announced. He predicted a new grocer would help attract other retailers to the center.
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