Woodcrest Stater Bros. Relocation Plans at Van Buren and Washington

The supermarket in the proposed Woodcrest Retail Center at Van Buren Boulevard and Washington Street is the Woodcrest Stater Bros., Store No. 80, which sits on the east side of Washington today. Riverside County's Draft Environmental Impact Report says the project "will allow for relocation of the existing Stater Bros. grocery store," moving it west to the northwest corner. The current store measures 29,120 square feet. The proposed one is 43,403 square feet, about 49 percent larger.

So this is the same grocery store moving to the other side of the street. Everything else in the proposal follows from that: which small shops come down to make room, why a new traffic signal goes where it does, and what happens to the building Stater Bros. leaves behind.

The Paperwork Has Called It a Relocation From the Start

The State Clearinghouse received the Draft EIR on September 24, 2026, under SCH No. 2025060993. The applicant is LJC Enterprises. The relocation wasn't added late. The County's June 18, 2025 Notice of Preparation, which opened the environmental review, already said the land use change was meant "to facilitate a relocation of an adjacent Stater Bros."

That land use change covers two parcels. APNs 273-130-014 and 273-130-019 together add up to about 4.9 acres and are listed as vacant and undeveloped. The General Plan Amendment would change them from Rural Community: Very Low Density Residential to Community Development: Commercial Retail. The zoning would change from Light Agriculture with a one-acre minimum, A-1-1, to Scenic Highway Commercial, C-P-S. Because those acres would change from rural residential and agricultural use to commercial, the county can't approve the project without a full EIR and, eventually, votes by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.

What Comes Down and What Stays

The full site is 9.42 gross acres. The corner of it that people use most often today is the small cluster on parcel 273-141-004. The county's Initial Study lists what's there now and notes that "all existing facilities on this parcel will be demolished":

• A 7-Eleven with a gas station, about 2,400 square feet
• A bike store, about 2,400 square feet
• A smoke shop, about 1,200 square feet
• A nail shop, about 1,200 square feet
• A fish taco shop, about 1,200 square feet

The Farmer Boys on the corner stays. The Initial Study puts the current restaurant at about 2,640 square feet. The Draft EIR lists Farmer Boys as a 3,390-square-foot drive-through on its own parcel, and the County's September 28 notice calls that building "existing." The documents give different sizes for the restaurant, but every version keeps it on the site.

Here is the full layout from the Draft EIR's development table. It is based on a site plan concept dated March 2025:

Under the base plan, the gas station on the corner would be replaced by a new convenience store with gas. The conditional use permit request would allow that store to sell alcohol for off-site consumption. The Parcel 1 Option skips the fuel entirely and puts another drive-through and a 5,400-square-foot retail or sit-down restaurant building there instead. That option brings the total to 65,693 square feet. The base plan totals 61,020.

The County's own notice lists slightly different figures: 62,443 square feet in total and a 4,650-square-foot convenience store. Expect these numbers to change as the plan moves through review. The two named tenants, Stater Bros. and Farmer Boys, are the same in every version. No document names tenants for the shop building or the other restaurant pads.

The Building Left Behind

If Stater Bros. moves, the store on the east side of Washington becomes an empty anchor space. The Draft EIR treats this as a real question. It considers whether a vacant grocery building could lead to what CEQA calls "urban decay," meaning long-term vacancy and physical deterioration.

To answer it, the county relied on an Urban Decay Study prepared by The Natelson Dale Group, dated June 12, 2025. The study drew a trade area of roughly three miles around the corner and counted about 159,000 square feet of existing retail space inside it. It then compared that supply with how much retail space local spending could support, using 2024 conditions:

By the study's count, the area could support about two and a half times the grocery space it has now. That gap explains why a larger Stater Bros. pencils out, and it is also the basis for the study's view that the old store won't stay empty. The Draft EIR says this "residual demand anticipates the rapid absorption of vacated space (e.g., the old Stater Bros. store)." It describes the trade area as underserved, with Dollar Tree, Michaels and Stater Bros. as the anchors of the main shopping center "slated for reuse."

These are a consultant's projections. They don't name a replacement tenant. No document reviewed for this post says what would move into the current Stater Bros. building or when.

How Cars Would Get In and Out

The traffic analysis, dated June 23, 2026, plans five driveways. Two on Van Buren Boulevard would be right-in, right-out only. Washington Street would get two full-access driveways and a third right-in, right-out.

A new traffic signal is planned at the full-access Washington Street driveway that lines up with the existing center to the east. That signal would connect the new grocery store with the center where the old one stands, so drivers could cross Washington between the two. The other site driveways would use stop signs, and the frontages on Washington and Van Buren would get County-standard street improvements.

A separate county project is planned for the same stretch of road. It would resurface about a mile of Van Buren Boulevard between Capella Street and Washington Street, rebuild curb and gutter, bus pads and ADA curb ramps, add about 4,000 square feet of new sidewalk, and switch the existing signals at King Avenue to camera detection. On January 14, 2026, the County announced it intended to award that contract to Vance Corporation for a base amount of $2,796,469.05. That notice did not set construction dates.

One line in the Draft EIR may cause confusion. It assumes the center operates "24 hours per day, 7 days per week," but says this assumption is "used solely for analytical purposes." The document studies the busiest possible case. It does not set business hours.

Where the Process Stands as of September 30, 2026

The County held a scoping session on July 14, 2025. According to the Woodcrest Wire, Planning Director John Hildebrand called for public comment several times, and no members of the public spoke in person or remotely. The Draft EIR is now the next chance for public input. The Draft EIR expects the center to be built and occupied by 2027. Its air quality section includes what it calls a "preliminary and approximate" construction schedule, with demolition starting January 1, 2026, and building construction running from March 16, 2026, to January 29, 2027. Those dates are modeling assumptions. The document says that if construction starts later, emissions would likely be lower. Several of those dates have already passed without the project being approved, so they aren't a timetable to plan around.

The comment deadline appears two ways. The County's September 18 notice, attached to the state CEQAnet record, lists a review period from September 25 to November 9, 2026. The County's later notice, posted September 28, runs from September 29 to 5:00 p.m. on November 12, 2026. November 12 is the most recent date the County has posted. Sending comments by November 9 meets both deadlines.

To comment, the County's notice asks for the following:

1. Read the Draft EIR on the County's environmental notices page or at the Planning Department, 4080 Lemon Street, 12th Floor, Riverside.
2. Write your comment and name the section of the EIR it addresses. Comments can also suggest other mitigation measures.
3. Email it to Principal Planner Jose Merlan at [email protected] with the subject line "EIR Comments: Woodcrest Retail Center Project" and your name in the body. You can also mail it to the Planning Department at the Lemon Street address.
4. Say in your comment whether you want to be notified of public hearings.

That last step matters because no public hearing on the EIR or the project had been scheduled as of the County's September 28 notice. Asking to be notified is the surest way to hear when the Planning Commission takes up the plan.

If you live near Van Buren and Washington and want to know how a rebuilt grocery corner could affect your home's value and next year's sale timing, Kimberly Ybarra and the team at Klybarra Realty are glad to go through it with you, one block at a time. Schedule Your Free Consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.