Does Sacramento still have a Whole Foods near downtown? Here's what local leaders are saying

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It's been more than a year since Sacramento developers began working to give the city its first Whole Foods Market, and people are looking for an update.

Last week, Carol Purin contacted the Sacramento Bee's on-duty journalism team, which focuses on community news, to ask: “Is the planned Whole Foods Market on J Street at 16th Street still in the works? »

Here's what we know so far:

Is Whole Foods Supermarket Coming to Sacramento?

In an October 2022 letter obtained by The Bee, Downtown Sacramento Partnership “strongly urged” Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the council to support a proposed development at the corner of 16th and J streets that would include a Whole Foods grocery store.

“On behalf of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, I write to strongly urge the City to support the municipal tax credit loan requested by SKK Developments to complete the mixed-use residential and commercial development featuring Whole Foods as the anchor retail tenant Retail,” the non-profit organization. the agency wrote.

In the letter, Downtown Sacramento Partnership said the supermarket chain would open a location at 1617 J St. in Boulevard Park, which formerly housed Lucca Restaurant & Bar, with 198 units above, The Bee reported in February 2023.

In February of that year, Steinberg hinted at bringing an “iconic” store to the same neighborhood in a speech on the state of downtown.

“The downtown of our future will be a neighborhood with a healthy mix of housing and jobs,” Steinberg said. “Imagine an iconic grocery store on the corner of 16th and J. It’s happening. »

However, this has not happened yet.

The Bee recently reached out to Steinberg's team, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership and the City of Sacramento Community Development Department for answers on the status of the Whole Foods development near downtown.

The three entities referred The Bee's reporter to SKK Developments, which had not responded to multiple requests for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.

“The mayor will not comment on the status of any particular development,” Mary Lynne Vellinga, Steinberg's chief of staff, wrote in an email Monday to The Bee.

She declined to provide further details on the status of Sacramento's proposed Whole Foods site.

Vellinga shared an official statement from Steinberg shortly after.

“We remain committed to the idea of ​​a large-scale grocery store serving the downtown and midtown areas and are working diligently to make it happen,” the mayor wrote.

This isn't the first time a Whole Foods store has opened downtown.

In 2015, city officials approved a 41,000-square-foot Whole Foods near 21st and L streets in Downtown.

“This is an iconic new project for downtown,” then-Councilman Steve Hansen said at the time, calling the proposed project “catalytic.”

However, this grocery store never saw the light of day.

“Aren’t we Sac Urbanites who don’t meet high retail standards!” » Purin, the Sacramento Bee reader, wrote in an email Tuesday, adding that she felt “neglected again.”

The Bee contacted Whole Foods multiple times for comment on proposals to build a store in Sacramento, but had not received a response as of Tuesday afternoon.

Does Sacramento still have a new grocery store near downtown?

It's unclear.

Madelyn Smith, director of communications and outreach for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, declined to provide further details about the city's first Whole Foods location.

“I'm sorry, we don't have any updates,” she wrote in a June 7 email before asking The Bee reporter to contact city officials “for more information.”

A city spokeswoman confirmed something is in the works at 1617 J St.

In a June 7 email, Kelli Trapani of the City of Sacramento Department of Community Outreach said records show a development at that address has been approved but a future tenant has not been listed.

Subsequent building permits also do not specify a tenant, she added.

What is the whole foods market?

Whole Foods Market, the largest supermarket chain in the United States, is known for its natural and organic products. Amazon acquired the company in 2017 for $13.7 billion.

There are more than 90 Whole Foods Market locations in California, including three in the Sacramento area.

A store is located at 1001 Galleria Blvd. in Roseville and another at 270 Palladio Parkway in Folsom. The third location is at 4315 Arden Way in Arden Arcade.

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