Whole Foods coming to Elk Grove? Plans show it may anchor this new shopping center

Whole Foods appears to be on its way to Elk Grove.

The specialty retailer would be a keystone at The Village, Sacramento developer Pappas Investments’ planned shopping complex at Elk Grove and Big Horn boulevards near The Ridge, another successful shopping center created by Pappas, which features a soon-to-open Amazon Fresh supermarket.

Pappas Investments vice president Kelly Rule declined to comment Friday on a report in the Sacramento Business Journal that the organic foods supermarket is planned for The Village. But Elk Grove economic development officials said applications have been filed to bring Whole Foods to the city.

Architectural and landscape plans sent to Elk Grove planners and provided to The Sacramento Bee show apparent plans for a proposed Whole Foods market. Renderings show Whole Foods signage on one of the buildings. Orange-based AO Architects and Roseville’s RSC Engineering are on the project, the filings show.

“It appears to show Whole Foods as a tenant,” Darrell Doan, Elk Grove Economic Development Director, said of the paperwork Friday. “It would be a big win for us. Certainly, it’s just applications, but we are processing applications and we would welcome Whole Foods to town.”

The Village at a proposed 127,000 square feet would sit along a busy Elk Grove Boulevard corridor and aside two major projects still on the drawing board: Elk Grove’s ambitious Project Elevate retail, entertainment and housing development and Dignity Health’s planned hospital — Elk Grove’s first — in 2026. Construction of the medical facility is expected to begin later this year.

The potential Whole Foods site looks to be an anchor tenant, the plans show, occupying 40,000 square feet. It would sit aside three smaller pads including a 25,000 square-foot site designated for major retail; a 10,500 square-foot pad for shops and an even smaller 4,500 square feet that would house more shops and a credit union.

Another combined 30,000 square feet of proposed restaurants and retail spread over six sites are projected to sit on the Elk Grove Boulevard of the site.

“That has the potential to be a really nice center. It would be across from (Project) Elevate so that would bring synergy,” Doan said, adding that Elk Grove expects to work closely with Pappas as it develops the shopping center.

Bringing the Austin, Texas-based brand to Elk Grove has long been a goal for a city that has seen more and more retailers move into town in the past two years. Other area Whole Foods stores are located in Sacramento, Folsom, Roseville and South Lake Tahoe.

“We’ve talked with Whole Foods many times over the years,” Doan said. “That’s been a missing brand for us, but they appear to be interested now.”