Rancho Del Mar Community Meeting

Thursday, April 28, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Seascape Golf Club – Monarch Meeting Room 610 Clubhouse Drive Aptos

By Noel Smith

Terramar Retail Centers is the new owner of the Rancho Del Mar Shopping Center in Aptos. When the purchase became known last fall, the immediate question was would Terramar, the new owner, continue the previous plans for redevelopment proposed by Safeway’s real estate development subsidiary, Property Development Centers (PDC). The PDC proposal included a new megastore for Safeway, a new gas station and the replacement of most of the other buildings in the complex.

Many in our community reacted negatively because of the displacement of local businesses, the size of the new store and gas station, and the complete change in character of the shopping center.

With those concerns in mind we talked to Bruce Walton, Vice President of Development for Terramar Retail Centers headquartered in Carlsbad, California. We asked him about the future of the Ranch Del Mar Shopping Center and what their plans were for redevelopment.

“Our plans include only refurbishing and refreshing the property as is which includes improvements to comply with ADA requirements,” said Walton, “Our philosophy is 180 degrees from the previous owners.”

Walton said they would be remodeling the current Safeway store and that beyond taking care of their current tenants, plans for the future would depend on the input from the community. “That is what the April 28th meeting is about; to get in-depth community input on the future of Rancho Del Mar so we will be working with the residents of Aptos as we improve and refurbish the shopping center. Terramar is a long-term investor and as also the manager of our properties, it’s important that what we do is in harmony with the community.”

Supervisor Zach Friend and other county officials will also be attending. “As you know,” said Friend, “A lot of people in the community have been reaching out with questions about the status of the Rancho Del Mar Center so I’ve been working with Terramar (the new owners of the center) to hold a community meeting. I wanted our community to have a chance to hear directly from Terramar, provide their input on what they’d like to see at the center, have their questions answered and have points of contact with the company moving forward.”

Walton urged that all those intending to go to the April 28th meeting visit the RSVP Link: https://ranchodelmar.eventbrite.com so they can be sure to accommodate all those attending. If anyone has questions they can contact Bruce Walton at Terramar at bwalton@terramar centers.com

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Bruce Walton is the uncle of Luke Walton, Assistant coach of the Golden State Warriors and older brother of NBA Hall of Fame Player, Bill Walton.