Vons Project Approved

Palm Desert will boast a larger Vons by November 2012, thanks to a vote by the city council.

In a 4-0 vote, with Mayor Jean Benson absent because of her recovery from hip surgery, the council approved amending an ordinance to allow supermarkets up to 60,000 square feet in the city. The old ordinance had a cap of 50,000 square feet.

Vons bought a vacant Mervyns store at Waring Plaza, which is on the northeast corner of Fred Waring Drive and Highway 111, with plans to put a 57,000-square-foot grocery store at the location.

Brian Braaten, vice president of Real Estate for Safeway Inc.'s Vons Division, said developers signed an agreement this morning with the owner of the shopping center where the Vons is currently located.

Vons has agreed to stay in its current location at the Palms to Pines Shopping Center until November 2012, and that it will do its best to find a tenant to fill the vacancy, he said.

Councilwoman Cindy Finerty asked for assurances that Vons will find a new tenant once it leaves the Palms to Pines Shopping Center.

"What assurances do we have ... so we don’t have another center that looks like the Mervyns center?" she said.

Braaten said it was nearly impossible to give a guarantee.

"We have a plan to work effectively to both of our best efforts,'' Braaten said of finding a new tenant.