Bakersfield ‘State of the City’ luncheon may include Whole Foods update, identify tenants coming to City Lights project

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The U.S. has 526 Whole Foods Markets. California has the most of any state – 95.

Yet, somehow, California’s ninth largest city still lacks one of the coveted upscale supermarkets.

But, whether it’s because of evolving socio-demographics, persistent civic flirtation or plain, old population numbers, that is about to change.

Whole Foods is coming to northwest Bakersfield. The health food giant will anchor a new shopping center development at the southwest corner of Coffee Road and Rosedale Highway. The project, slated for the former site of a PG&E power plant, will include 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a community park, and electric car charging stations.

The development is expected to bring over 1,000 jobs to the area and generate significant sales and tax revenue for the city. 

Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh made the Whole Foods announcement last year and was said to be preparing an update on the project for Wednesday’s State of the City event – but she tells 17 News she doesn’t have enough information to speak on the subject just yet.

What she is prepared to talk about at the State of the City luncheon, set for the Marriott Convention Center Hotel, is the City Lights development.

That’s the now-leveled site we once called East Hills Mall. She says she’ll announce a couple of the major tenants coming to the 346,500 square foot retail and commercial center just off Oswell Street. 

Developer Michael Heslov declined to identify those tenants, but Que Pasa, a locally owned midscale Mexican chain, says they have been in negotiations.

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As for the Whole Foods project, just across Rosedale Highway from the Northwest Promenade, we know this. The store won’t open anytime soon. The shopping center’s developer still must complete an environmental impact report before building permits can be considered, and that could take 8 to 12 months, according to city spokesman Joe Conroy. 

Whole Foods’s corporate office tells 17 News they don’t have any information to share at this time. Cheesecake Factory, which local residents last year named as the national chain they’d most like to see in Bakersfield, likewise said they had no new information.

And Sage Investco, the Rosedale Highway shopping center’s developer, did not respond to a request for comment.