Work begins at Bijou Marketplace; Whole Foods 365 plans first Lake Tahoe store

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - "We've been waiting to be in South Lake Tahoe for a long time," said R. Adam Smith, Executive Director of Store Development for Whole Foods in Northern California. "Couldn't be more thrilled than to be here today."

Smith took part in Monday's groundbreaking at the new Bijou Marketplace along with the Jim Halferty and Chris Peto of Halferty Development Ground, the owners of the property along Highway 50 and the corner of Ski Run Boulevard, and local officials.

"Its been a long time in coming," said Peto who has been working for four years in obtaining the South Lake Tahoe property. Halferty was initially just going to purchase what was known as the Southwest Corner, the empty lot at Ski Run and 50. When the Knight's Inn property became available for purchase the plans expanded.

His first talks about building in South Lake Tahoe took place at Disneyland with Deb Howard of Deb Howard & Co, the broker of the real estate deal.

"It takes awhile for good thing to happen," said Howard. "This isn't going to be just a box store, it will reflect Tahoe."

Whole Foods 365 is the only tenant of the new development to have signed a lease, so far. There will be eight to nine spaces available for lease in the Bijou Marketplace. Peto and Halferty said one interested party may take two of the spots and merge them into one. Whole Foods will occupy two of the five buildings that will make up Bijou Marketplace. One will be on the corner of Highway 50 and Herbert Avenue and will offer food in a restaurant setting, and the other will be groceries and other partners in the Whole Foods 365 concept which is to have different sections of their stores offer something "fresh and current," according to Smith.

"Whole Foods will blend in," said Smith. "We adapt to change and offer unique items." He said they will only need about five months to get their store partners in place and they wait that long because of change and want to offer what the public wants.

Some of their partners in other locations include entrepreneurs who offer juices, teas and coffees, burgers, Chloe plant-based food restaurant and other fresh food offering different that a traditional grocery store.

Bijou Marketplace will incorporate the mountain look with green space, trees and views of the lake and mountains where possible. The City of South Lake Tahoe will "daylight" Bijou Park Creek which is now in a pipe from Heavenly Mountain Resort to Lake Tahoe, making the creek visible at the new retail area.

Peto said they plan to get the land ready to build on by the end of this summer, with the project ready for tenants by the end of 2018.

"We're getting the vibe back," said SLT Mayor Austin Sass during the ceremony. He highlighted all of the change taking place in the City with new sidewalks, bike trails, businesses and the three-year project on Highway 50 from the Y to Trout Creek. "Things are as good in town as they've been in a long time."

Both Sass, Peto and former Mayor Hal Cole said it was City Manager Nancy Kerry's tenacity in getting the project together that helped Bijou Marketplace become a reality.

The Knight's Inn had a total of 178,837 sq. ft. of verified existing coverage, 13,849 sq. ft. of that coverage was in SEZ (Stream Zone Environment). The new project proposes a total of 175,083 sq. ft. of coverage, all within a high capability district (LCD 7). The project will include the relocation of coverage from the SEZ area to the LCD 7 area and a reduction of 3,754 sq. ft. of hard coverage in the project area.

According to the South Lake Tahoe Development Services Department, existing development commodities include 110 Tourist Accommodation Units (TAUs), 1 Residential Unit of Use, 17,850 sf of Commercial Floor Area (CFA), and 12,000 sf of CFA previously banked on the southwest corner. The Bijou Marketplace project includes a total of 43,000 sf CFA.

In the photo: L-R - Chris Peto, Tom Davis, Hal Cole, Jim Halferty, Austin Sass, Wendy David, Brooke Laine, Nancy Kerry, Jason Collin and R. Adam Smith.