City Council Ends Efforts to Condemn Liquor Store : Development: Under a judge’s ruling, city officials had until Tuesday night to take the store through condemnation or to exempt it from further action.

The clock ran out this week on city efforts to condemn a well-known liquor store, pleasing the store’s loyal customers but frustrating officials who view the business as a thorn in the city’s grand development scheme.

Officials had until Tuesday night to condemn Uptown Liquor at Greenleaf Avenue and Penn Street or exempt the store from condemnation proceedings. Plans to seize the property fell through when last-minute efforts failed to close a deal to replace the liquor store with a multimillion-dollar office building.

For years, city officials have been trying to replace the liquor store with a business they say would be more compatible with the Whittier Hilton hotel across the street and the southern entrance to the city’s main shopping district, known as Uptown.

But, without a project to replace the store or the money to buy it, council members were reluctant to seize the property.

“With the hard economic times we are in, we couldn’t afford to go out on a limb,” Councilwoman Helen McKenna-Rahder said.

The result is that the city can no longer force Uptown Liquor to move, leaving its longtime owners in a stronger bargaining position.

“We’re pleased that (officials) voted to exempt the property,” said Richard Hayes, president of the family-owned corporation that runs the store. With the threat of condemnation “hanging over property for 15 years, the property has been pretty much unmarketable,” he said.

The city has looked at ways to replace the liquor store and a handful of other old homes and stores on the block since the mid-1970s. Proposed projects included a five-screen movie theater, a gourmet market, townhouses and office buildings, but the plans always fell through.

The liquor store operates out of a 70-year-old, one-story, wood and stucco building. The spirits for sale range from Budweiser to a 1986 Chateau Ausone wine for $105, and the store also sells convenience items from pet food to pinto beans. Some employees have worked the counter for nearly a decade and know many regulars by name.

Customers argue that there’s nothing wrong with leaving the area just the way it is.

“I don’t think they should condemn it,” said warehouse worker Joe Lechuga, who was in the store this week with his 5-year-old son. “It means I would have to go farther from my home if I want to buy milk or beer.

Whittier officials, however, said redeveloping the block is essential.

“It’s of critical importance for the entrance to the Uptown business district,” Assistant City Manager Hank Cunningham said. “You can’t have a blighted, run-down area and expect people to want to shop or dine in the Uptown.

Hotel officials also want the block where the liquor store sits to be redeveloped, Chief Executive Officer Kitty Dyer said. “If you look out my window across the street at this whole area, it is certainly not an area where travelers need to look at. They don’t feel safe,” she said.

The hotel has not turned a profit since opening in 1986. The city donated the site, issued a $4-million bond to build a parking structure, loaned the hotel $300,000 for street improvements and returned more than $800,000 in bed taxes.

Dyer insisted that the hotel will survive with or without the liquor store, but said she would prefer to be across from a development that looked better and would attract overnight travelers and conference business.

City officials said they were on the verge of landing such a development Tuesday. An unnamed developer wants to build a five- or six-story corporate headquarters in Whittier, city sources said. The negotiations lasted until 4:55 p.m., breaking up only when City Council members had to begin a redevelopment meeting to decide whether to condemn Uptown Liquor.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge imposed the February deadline on the condemnation, ruling in 1990 that the owners had operated under the threat of condemnation long enough.

Saga of a Whittier Liquor Store

1974: The city includes Uptown Liquor property in the redevelopment area..

1986: Whittier Hilton opens across from Uptown Liquor. City officials say the liquor store should be replaced by a business more compatible to the hotel.

1987: The city rejects a plan by Relco, a Los Angeles developer, to buy the liquor store block and develop it as a one-story strip shopping center. Attorneys for Uptown Liquor ask the city to make up its mind about whether it will condemn the property.

1988: A deal with the Vanderbilt Group to develop the property falls through. The plan called for a five-screen movie theater, a major retailer, restaurants, office space and a parking structure.

1989: Owners of Uptown Liquor ask city officials to decide on the fate of their store and later file suit.

1990: A plan to build townhomes on the Uptown Liquor block falls through. A judge gives Whittier until the end of February, 1992, to condemn Uptown Liquor or exempt it from eminent domain.

1991: The city renegotiates an aid package to give the struggling Hilton more financial assistance.

Feb. 25: The city exempts Uptown Liquor from condemnation.