Trader Joe’s plans to open an outpost at Marina del Rey’s Pier 44, confirming rumors that the grocery chain would be among the anchor companies at the redevelopment project.
Trader Joe’s wants to build a 13,360-square-foot store on Mindanao Way, part of the larger Pier 44 commercial and boating complex that Beverly Hills-based Golden West Properties is developing. The project spans about 10 acres that hug the marina and includes eight buildings totaling around 90,000 square feet.
Details about the store were provided in an application for a liquor license filed with the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. The application notes that 18 percent of total shelf space would be dedicated to alcohol.
Reports of Trader Joe’s plans have circulated since 2015, but neither the company nor GWP have confirmed them. Marketing materials for Pier 44’s other commercial spaces from PAR Commercial Brokerage agent Greg Eckhardt have indicated a Trader Joe’s would rise there along with a West Marine boating retailer.
The Pier 44 project would connect those spaces — along with restaurant and other retail space — with a promenade along the marina basin. It would also include around 460 parking spaces and up to 370 boat slips.
Besides Pier 44’s redevelopment, the area is seeing investment. London & Regional Properties paid $127 million for the 238-room Hotel MdR a few blocks from the Pier 44 site. Developer Steaven Jones Development Company and Creative Office Properties are planning a mixed-use creative office, retail and residential development nearby on Glencoe Avenue.
Trader Joe’s was founded in Monrovia and has 11 locations around L.A. More than 60 percent of Downtown residents surveyed by the Downtown Business Improvement District in March said they wanted a Trader Joe’s market to be built there.