EAST PALO ALTO, CA. - The East Palo Alto City Council has selected a Danville developer to deliver on a dream that has eluded the city for years: a supermarket residents can call their own.

The council voted unanimously Thursday night to negotiate a development agreement with Blake Hunt Ventures, a relatively young company that is involved in similar projects around the Bay Area, for a six-acre vacant lot at Bay Road and University Avenue.

It also voted to pursue another development project, which could involve a smaller supermarket, at a different site with Palo Alto developers Tony Carrasco and Owen Byrd.

The Bay Road site, known as Four Corners, is privately owned by a non-profit development group that tried and failed to bring a supermarket to the city years ago. If the city pursues a project on the Four Corners site and a sale cannot be negotiated, the city may exercise its right of eminent domain.

The council chose Blake Hunt Ventures after discussing proposals that had been put forward by a total of four development teams. Council members most liked the Danville developer's proposal, which incorporates a supermarket, other retail stores, restaurants and housing.

Located at a prominent intersection and across from city hall, the lot is a considered a key piece in efforts to give the small city a town center where residents can go to relax, shop and socialize.

Council members have said they felt this would best be achieved with a project that felt urban and pedestrian-friendly, with wide sidewalks and trees, rather than a suburban strip mall. They had taken a tour of a project Blake Hunt Ventures had done in San Mateo and loved it, they said.

"I felt Blake Hunt Ventures was eager to do the kinds of things we would like to see," council member Duane Bay said.

The developer still faces the challenge of luring a supermarket operator to the city. City officials acknowledged that the company's ability to do so is not certain. Still, they said they are hopeful because Blake Hunt Ventures has been successful in other cities.

East Palo Alto residents have not had a full-service supermarket in their city since the 1970s and must travel to neighboring cities for groceries.

In choosing Blake Hunt Ventures, the council rejected a proposal that seemed to be the strongest candidate just a few weeks ago because it was put forward by a developer that already had a supermarket operator in hand.

Halferty Development Co. of Pasadena had an agreement from FoodsCo, a grocery chain owned by the Kroger Co., to come to East Palo Alto.

But council members Thursday said a recent tour of a FoodsCo store left them unimpressed.

"I saw a slab floor, it was rack-style; it was a warehouse," said council member Chris Woodard, who travels to Menlo Park, Palo Alto and sometimes even Mountain View for groceries. "I want good produce, good meat, people who are willing to help you. I want a store that is going to raise expectations."

Currently involved in grocery-anchored projects in cities such as Walnut Creek, Redwood City and San Mateo, Blake Hunt is also at the center of a contentious $50 million redevelopment plan involving the Tropicana Shopping Center in East San Jose.

Last year, the San Jose city council approved using eminent domain to seize the Tropicana and a strip mall across the street and chose Blake Hunt Ventures to rebuild them.

While many neighbors supported the plan, merchants and center owners fought it and have taken their fight to court, claiming the Tropicana seizure is illegal.