Decaying Shopping Center on Tap For Facelift

ALAMEDA, CA-The Bridgeside Shopping Center here has been sliding downhill ever since losing an anchor tenant three years ago. The city’s Community Improvement Commission wants to do something to halt the decline.

The commission says it is planning to ask the center’s owner to step up to the plate and redevelop the mall. The center’s owner, IRES Inc. of Vancouver, Canada, could not immediately be reached for comment.

City officials also have said they may approach the Albertson’s supermarket chain about locating at the Bridgeside Center. Also under consideration are several upscale retail stores as well as a Trader Joe’s market, but nothing has been given a definite go-ahead.

Ever since the Lucky shopping center moved out in 1997, the shopping center has been on a downslide. Now 40% vacant, the 8.3-acre strip mall on Tilden Way consists only of a Rite Aid and a few other stores.