CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - General site work in advance of construction of a new 36,152-square-foot sports club, owned by an Irvine-based corporation which operates the LA Fitness chain of health clubs, in the site of the former Jo-Anne Fabrics in Sunrise Village Shopping Center at 5425 Sunrise Boulevard in Citrus Heights has begun.

In the plaza, green perimeter fencing around the job site diverts parking lot traffic around Jo-Anne Fabrics behind Olive Garden towards Rite Aid. A red and white banner hung from the roof of the former Lyon’s Restaurant, also located in the Sunrise Village Plaza, tells the public that renovation there will begin soon.

Earlier this year, Jo-Anne Fabrics moved to a new building which was completed in the first phase of a $15-20 million remodel and expansion project for the center which is owned by the San Francisco-based Merlone-Geier investment company. An adjacent tenant, retailer Tuesday Morning also moved from the Sunrise Village Plaza to a new location on Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights.

An approximately 38,000-square foot commercial space between the existing Rite Aid drug store and the new 36,152-square-foot City Sports Club is shown on construction plans as either a proposed home goods, or grocery store. 

Current retail grocery competition in the area includes Trader Joe’s which is located across the street from the Sunrise Village Shopping Center in the Quail Point Shopping Center on Madison Avenue and a Sprouts located at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane. A Safeway grocery store is located at the corner of Dewey Drive and Madison in Fair Oaks.

Local shoppers in the Sunrise Village Shopping Center said they would welcome a Whole Foods Market to open somewhere between Roseville and Citrus Heights. Another possible candidate could be Amazon Fresh, both an online and physical grocery store which offers free same-day delivery and pickup in select locations for its Prime members.

Whole Foods Market has announced plans to expand across the country with 43 stores across 19 states and Washington, D.C. California will be home to 11 of the new locations, including three in San Francisco and two in Los Angeles, according to the grocer’s website. The city of Citrus Heights isn’t listed in those expansion plans.

Last month, the Starbucks located in the Quail Point Shopping Plaza across the street on Madison Avenue in Fair Oaks, moved to its new Citrus Heights in Sunrise Village.

A new Firehouse Subs is scheduled to be adjacent to the new Starbucks. Sections of the parking lot at Sunrise Village Shopping Center were recently repaved and new electric vehicle charging stations have recently been added.

In construction plans originally submitted to the city of Citrus Heights, the closed former Lyon’s restaurant in the Sunrise Village Shopping center is scheduled for demolition. The space of the former 5,274-square foot restaurant is listed on the project brochure as being available for further development.

The general contractor who will build the new 50,000-square-foot sports club hasn’t posted signage at the construction site.

Level 5 Builders, Inc. of Folsom, which built the new Jo-Annes store, isn’t the general contractor in this new phase of the project, said its president, Kevin Meyer.

Renovation plans were approved by the Citrus Heights City Council in February 2020. The project developer, Merlone-Geier, will complete the project in scheduled phases. The project will take several years to complete and also includes new landscaping and upgraded signage.

Calls to Merlone-Geier for project information, identification of the general contractor involved in building the new sports club and the contractor handling the demolition of the former Lyon’s restaurant were not returned as of press time.

The project general contractor Is Moorefield Construction, Inc. which offices in of Sacramento and Santa Ana, Calif. The public can view the developer’s general project brochure at: https://merlonegeier.propertycapsule.com/p/commercial-real-estate-listings/Citrus+Heights-CA-95610/sunrisevillage