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Format may delay new Giant Eagle
(by Sue Reid - October 04, 2012)
Format may delay new Giant Eagle
By SUE REID
Due to the complexity of a Giant Eagle Market District format, which is the company’s top-end marketing concept, a new store planned for the Solon Village development may not open until 2014.
The initial proposal was for a regular Giant Eagle to open in the summer of 2013, but the Pittsburgh-based grocer tweaked its plan this summer to upgrade the grocery store to a Market District format. It would be the first of its kind in the Cleveland area.
“Because it’s a Market District, it is a more complex operation,” City Planning Director Robert S. Frankland explained. Staff needs trained, and the store needs set up for that format, “so the developer will be pushing well up to the end of 2013 at the very least to get it open, but there is a chance a new Market District will not open until 2014.”
Giant Eagle Market District stores provide significantly expanded services and merchandising over typical stores. Market District stores only are in the Pittsburgh and Columbus areas.
The primary exterior modification associated with the Market District would be a redesign of the principal entry point to the store. The peaked roof that had been proposed would be replaced with a flat-roof design. Substantial additional glass would be provided in accordance with the Market District branding concept.
The store will be the primary anchor in the redeveloped plaza, which is at the southeast corner of SOM Center (Route 91) and Aurora (Route 43) roads. Plans are for the current Giant Eagle to remain open until the new store launches.
In other updates with the plaza, the city’s planning commission gave its approval last week for the main entrance signs for the project. Two multi-tenant, free-standing signs are planned, with one to be to the south of the principal SOM Center Road entry point and another to the west of the principal Aurora Road entry point.
The signs will incorporate Western Reserve architectural design elements. As a result, brick pillars and coping were added.
The signs are slightly more than 9 feet high and larger than the city code limit of 7 feet, Mr. Frankland noted. “But in view of the fact that this is a major shopping center, it’s not unusual,” he said. Also, the signs’ placement was reviewed by the safety forces, which determined there is a clear line of sight.
“In the scope and scale of the project, the signs should fit well aesthetically into that design,” Mr. Frankland said. Also, the commission approved a number of free-standing sign variances to allow for two as the code permits one.
“This is a major shopping plaza with two entrances that are a significant distance apart. Therefore, the two multi-tenant signs make sense,” he said.
The signs basically will advertise that there is a Market District development and include three sign spaces for the primary tenants, which are Giant Eagle and Pet Supplies Plus. A third panel, which will represent a major tenant, has not been designated.
The signs are expected to be erected within the next month, pending City Council’s approval Monday.
Also, units will be turned over to plaza tenants as of this week. The first phase of the project is to allow the tenants to move in. The second phase, planned for sometime next year, involves moving Giant Eagle into the new pad and Pet Supplies Plus store occupying the former space.
Mr. Frankland noted that the pet store may not have a presence in Solon for a few months due to the expansion of Marc’s in the SOM Centre Plaza on SOM Center Road.
“It is my understanding that the expansion will proceed very soon,” he said of Marcs, which is expanding into the current Pet Supplies Plus space in the plaza.
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