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Sights set on 2013 for new Giant Eagle
(by Sue Reid - February 01, 2012)
Sights set on 2013 for new Giant Eagle
By SUE REID
If city approvals go forward according to schedule, shoppers will have a new Giant Eagle supermarket in Solon by the summer of 2013.
Echo Development would be in the position to deliver the pad for the new supermarket by late next fall, all the while keeping the existing Giant Eagle in operation at the Solar Center shopping plaza at the southeast corner of Aurora (Route 43) and SOM Center (Route 91) roads.
That was part of the message delivered during a presentation last week to the Solon planning commission by Phillip A. Bishop, vice president of Echo Real Estate Services Co., and Pasquale Avolio, director of real estate development and construction for Giant Eagle.
"It's the same site plan people have been seeing more or less since 2009, but they are tweaking that plan," Solon Planning Director Robert S. Frankland said. As a result, administrative work sessions were to be held the week.
A site plan for the redevelopment of Solar Center, as well as some 20 associated zoning variances, was before the commission, which tabled the issue. Still to be submitted are elevations for the out-parcel buildings, landscape and buffering plans, as well photometrics.
"We need more time to digest a project of this size," commission member Roger C. Newberry said. "At this point, I don't see any problem passing this through to meet your April 12 date."
That is the deadline Echo has in its agreement with the Perlick-Caplin family, which currently owns the plaza, to purchase the property.
"Giant Eagle is looking for approvals of their elevations and their site plans before they agree to purchase the property," Mr. Frankland explained.
The plan is to have the issue before Solon City Council for review and consideration in March, if not sooner, officials said.
Mr. Bishop said Echo has a purchase agreement for the existing shopping center and two residential properties to the south. Plans are to develop the shopping center with Giant Eagle as its main tenant. The developer is in the market for a "junior anchor," he said, which would occupy 20,000 square feet of the plaza.
Plans are to expand the current 54,000-square-foot Giant Eagle store to 92,000 square feet.
Mr. Bishop said Echo has worked "long and hard" with the city for the development agreement, and "we are excited."
He said the project is to be completed in phases, beginning with the relocation of the existing businesses to a new area, which is a 11,500-square-foot out-parcel retail center to be built from scratch.
Phase two will be demolition of the existing location to the south to prepare the pad for the Giant Eagle. Phase three will be the demolition of the existing Giant Eagle.
Since 2009, Mr. Avolio said, the intent has been to a develop a project for a supermarket that will be a "signature store that Solon and one that Giant Eagle can be proud of."
The store will be designed to meet the Western Reserve architectural style, which is a recommendation in the city's master plan for the area and is part of the development agreement.
"Western Reserve is a broad architectural style," Mr. Frankland said. An example would be the DO Sommers building on SOM Center Road, which is in front of Solar Center.
Mr. Avolio said, "We are working to have a major upgrade to the center. The store that is there now is outdated from the offerings we have."
Mr. Frankland said the project would be the first redevelopment of a major shopping center in Solon's history. "This would also represent a significant advancement of the city master plan for this area," he said.
Such projects are not only desirable in order to adequately serve the long-term needs of the community, he said, "but are also essential, if the city is to address the growing problem of an increasingly aging commercial infrastructure."
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