The Riverside City Council on Tuesday overturned a Planning Commission denial and approved a high-end wine and spirits shop and tasting room in the vacant former Allin Party Supply space at 6491 and 6499 Magnolia Ave.
The council voted 6-0, with Councilmembers Philip Falcone, Steven Robillard, Chuck Conder, Sean Mill, Luis Hernandez and Steve Hemenway in favor. Mayor Pro Tem Clarissa Cervantes abstained, saying she arrived late and missed the presentations.
The commission rejected the project 2-6 on April 9. Commissioners cited the number of liquor licenses already in the area, the applicant's outreach to neighbors and compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood.
The approval grants applicant Jasmin "Jazz" Patel of Pragat Laxmi Corp. a conditional use permit for the sale of alcohol, design review of the project and a finding that an additional license serves the public convenience or necessity. State law requires that finding in census tracts the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control considers overconcentrated.
Census Tract 311, which covers Riverside's Midtown area, has nine off-sale licenses where ABC anticipates two, and 28 on-sale licenses where it anticipates five. Brian Norton, a city principal planner, said the tract had 10 off-sale licenses until the former Rite Aid in the Magnolia Town Center surrendered its license to the state. The project will bring the counts to 10 and 29.
Norton said the high numbers reflect the tract's commercial character. ABC bases its allowance on residential population, and grocery stores and drugstores account for much of the off-sale count. He said destination areas such as Midtown and downtown can support higher concentrations.
Patel's representatives argued the new license would effectively replace the Rite Aid license. Resident Dave Lanham, the only speaker to oppose the project, disagreed.
"If you're oversaturating, you ought to be reducing them, not keeping the status quo," Lanham said.
Lanham said he visited 150 homes in the neighborhood and found no one who supported the project, though residents told him they wanted something in the vacant space.
Nick Adcock, president and CEO of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce, spoke in support on behalf of the chamber's Magnolia Center Business Council. Adcock, who owns property a block and a half from the site, said the business council met with Patel three or four times. He said the property has struggled with homelessness, graffiti and trash.
Erin Sassy, who lives near the site, said she has seen illegal dumping and junk set on fire there. Several customers of Patel's Corona store also spoke in support.
Robillard, who represents the area and lives about a three-minute walk from the site, made the motion. He said Magnolia Center empties after 5 p.m. and that businesses open in the evening deter crime.
"When you have people walking around, enjoying something, shopping, having entertainment, that's how you get people who are looking to do crime to keep them away," Robillard said.
Mill said overconcentration of liquor licenses is "a big issue" for him but accepted staff's explanation.
"I always say vacancy breeds vagrancy," Mill said.
The council added a condition requiring the business to close by 10 p.m. daily. Patel's original plan ran until midnight. Under the conditions of approval, Patel must begin construction within a year, and three or more sustained disturbance complaints to police within 12 months are grounds for revoking the permit.
Plans for the long-vacant space
Jazz Patel said in an interview Thursday that he expects city review of his construction plans to take three to six months, with construction to follow. He said he hopes to open within a year.
Patel originally planned to renovate the building in stages. He said neighbors asked him to do it all at once, and he agreed. Craig Fry, speaking for Patel at the council meeting, estimated the investment at more than $11 million.
"Vacant is never good," Patel said.
At the meeting, Councilman Philip Falcone asked whether landscaping would be delayed to a later phase. A member of Patel's team said all work would now be done as a single project. Falcone praised the midcentury modern facade design as an homage to the character of the neighborhood.
Patel, who said he has spent more than 25 years in the wine and spirits business, owns El Cerrito Liquor, a specialty wine and spirits store in Corona. He told the council he has a clean record with ABC.
The Riverside business will have two parts. Jazz's Wine & Spirits is a bottle shop with limited releases, collector-oriented inventory, specialty groceries such as cheese and chocolate, and a window serving coffee and fresh juice. Jazzy's is a 5,990-square-foot tasting room with a patio. Patel said he is also considering adding fresh bread and sandwiches.
Patel said Jazzy's will have three rooms for classes of about 20 people, with winemakers and master distillers leading sessions. In evening cocktail classes, customers will be able to buy the ingredients in the shop next door.
"So it's not just your bar," Patel said.
City documents, including staff's presentation to the council, describe the space as a bar, and Patel applied for a Type 48 license, the state's general license for bars. Mill said residents who called him referred to the project as "Jazzy's Bar." Patel told the council the space will be called simply Jazzy's.
"Jazzy's is basically a tasting room," Patel said.
"If it's not a bar, quit calling it a bar," Lanham said at the meeting.
The business will open at 7 a.m. Patel said his team had proposed a 9 p.m. closing, but neighbors told him that was too early to stop by after work, so the team settled on 10 p.m.
Fry said the project would bring 20 to 30 local jobs. Patel's written application to the city projects 17 to 20 permanent jobs.
After the commission's denial, Patel mailed flyers to every address within 500 feet of the site, beyond the city's standard 300-foot notice radius, and went door to door in the neighborhood. He said he walked the streets himself in 107-degree heat.
"I could pay somebody to go out, but that's not what I wanted to do," Patel said. "I wanted to hear what community wanted."
Robillard said he met with Patel after the denial.
"I told him, 'If you want people to be supportive of this business, you need to show them,'" Robillard said. He said Patel then knocked on the doors of the project's most vocal critics to ask about their concerns.
Neighbors suggested the coffee and juice window, Patel said. Some who don't drink urged him to open anyway because the vacant property has drawn homeless people. Patel estimated he won over 50% to 70% of the residents who initially opposed the project.
Patel, a father of three, said he will run the business himself.
"I am a family man, so I do want to care about the community as well," Patel said. "I'm putting my name on the building."
