Glendale planning board votes to replace former Marie Callender’s site with Rite Aid
A long-empty Marie Callender’s restaurant is set to be replaced with a Rite Aid following approval from the city’s Design Review Board Thursday.
Commissioners voted 3-0 for the eatery — idle for the last two years — to be demolished to make way for a 12,900-square-foot retail building with a drive-thru pharmacy at 707 N. Pacific Ave.
The new building will sit on the same corner of the 1.2-acre lot that the Marie Callender’s did, a design element commissioners said they were pleased with.
Several residents in the area voiced concerns about the business’ impact, noting the site’s proximity to the Ventura (134) Freeway onramps and offramps.
Resident Betty McBride said she would rather have had another restaurant move in.
Josh Patria, regional construction manager for Rite Aid, said to help alleviate traffic, the store only gets one delivery truck visit per week because of its size.
“It’s done later, at 8 or 9 [p.m.],” he said.
The new Rite Aid would not be a 24-hour store and would only operate between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., he said
To further mitigate traffic, the developer will widen the southern half of Burchett Street to make room for a center-turn lane and a southbound right-turn lane at Pacific and Burchett, according to a staff report.
“The applicant has done its best to align the street,” said Chair Vrej Mardian.
Sixty-one on-site parking spaces will also be provided.
Since aspects of the project met code requirements, the Design Review Board was the only authority that had to grant approval, but members had some conditions.
Commissioners were nearly unanimous in their dislike of the Rite Aid’s brick design and directed the applicant, Steve Shaul, director of commercial acquisitions for StarPoint Properties, to use a different material.
“The main [thing that] seems overwhelming to me is the bricks, which seems a bit outdated,” said Commissioner Sevan Benlian.
The new Rite Aid also intends on selling alcohol for off-site consumption, which will require approval from the state’s Department of Alcohol Beverage Control as well as support from the Glendale Police Department and city staffers.
After Marie Callender’s closed in 2012, the former franchise owner of the location opened his own restaurant called Serious Bar & Grill, which went out of business in 2013.
In April, Pacific Avenue Properties, LLC purchased the lot for $6 million, according to public records.
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Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com
Twitter: @arinmikailian
