Meijer to replace 28th/Kalamazoo Ave store

[GRDadof3]

This is getting very interesting. Isn't this how things started in Acme Township as well?

I can see both sides of the argument. But I highly doubt Meijer would take their toys and go home, especially given (purely a guess) a D&W or (gasp) Wal*mart would probably love this location for a retail presence in an area with little to no competition.

A Trader Joe perhaps? I just love to think of the possibilities if the Planning Commission said "no."

I don't think there's any way that a Trader Joe's would go there. The demographics are all wrong, and there are umpteen thousand vacant storefronts West of there they could choose from. If Meijer goes, don't be surprised if the pharmacy across the street goes too.

[Veloise]

I don't think there's any way that a Trader Joe's would go there. The demographics are all wrong, and there are umpteen thousand vacant storefronts West of there they could choose from. If Meijer goes, don't be surprised if the pharmacy across the street goes too.

The Walgreen's is almost brand new (it opened about a year ago). Given the traffic patterns, it's doubtful that either serves as a draw for the other.

Wonder where the Press picked up the "threat" that Meijer might leave the corner? They'd have abandoned that old store long ago.

[plee30]

OMG, I wish you could see this...but there's actually a Meijer ad on this page...it's right above this Fast Reply box. Sadly, I'm sure it'll be gone from others to see as soon as I add the reply.

The ad:

"Get a new Camera at a Meijer Store Near You!"

Repost: Apparently there's a permanent Meijer add on this page. Got excited for nothing.

[Veloise]

^^ Depends on the title of the thread that you're browsing. Mine seems to be on target (snork).

Here's a little something I took out of the site plan packet. Blue is existing, red is proposed (roughly).

Looks to be plenty of room to push the building towards the street; the only problem is that pesky construction staging. (Tamias, get to work!)

The Press is having a live webcam of the PC meeting tomorrow. Perhaps I wasn't the only local glued to the Freep's coverage of the mayor removal hearings, etc. etc.

[GRDadof3]

^^ Depends on the title of the thread that you're browsing. Mine seems to be on target (snork).

Here's a little something I took out of the site plan packet. Blue is existing, red is proposed (roughly).

Looks to be plenty of room to push the building towards the street; the only problem is that pesky construction staging. (Tamias, get to work!)

The Press is having a live webcam of the PC meeting tomorrow. Perhaps I wasn't the only local glued to the Freep's coverage of the mayor removal hearings, etc. etc.

Here's the new Meijer site plan, with the old Meijer partially left in there:

From what I understand, they do not want to close that store to do the remodel, especially for a couple of years. People's shopping habits change dramatically in that period of time.

I don't know that Walgreen's wants to be the last man standing near that corner.

[tamias6]

Here's the new Meijer site plan, with the old Meijer partially left in there:

From what I understand, they do not want to close that store to do the remodel, especially for a couple of years. People's shopping habits change dramatically in that period of time.

I don't know that Walgreen's wants to be the last man standing near that corner.

The thing that's got me is that the demolished section of the old store houses nearly all of the grocery section including all of the numbered aisles, produce, meat, deli, and sea foods. The only thing of the groceries that would not be affected would be the bakery, and diary sections. All of the groceries would have to be moved to the front sections of the building. So Meijer is going to have to give up a bunch of its retail offerings and become pretty much a traditional supermarket during the rebuilt.

[jthrasher]

what about parking? aren't they eliminating a lot of parking spaces?

[Veloise]

what about parking? aren't they eliminating a lot of parking spaces?

According to the staff report for today:

522 spaces are required

535 spaces previously provided

508 spaces in this submission

Anyone ever seen this lot filled up? I haven't.

The proposed building has 256,544 sf. The proposed sound wall is now 16' tall, increased from 10' in the previous iteration.

Part of the phased construction issue is the room to roam (staged equipment, demolition, etc). Meijer proposes a rezoning on the residential lot which is directly across from the gas station.

The pack contains a nice letter from a resident suggesting placement of the building along 28th Street, so as to make it look less like a warehouse district. He also gets in some good digs about building design in general.

Fifty-seven pages in today's agenda packet, wow.

[Veloise]

Press does not have a webcast, dang it. It's live typing. Still, it's almost like being there.

ETA: tabled due to attendance by several planning commissioners.

[Raildudes dad]

I'm not sure why the refusal to locate the store where the current one sits. They redid Alpine within the same footprint and did some additions and modifications while keeping the store open. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but it worked. If it was too messy or congested, my wife went to Plainfield (pre-replacement ) or Knapp's Corners. She even treated herself to M@C once in a while.

[tamias6]

I'm not sure why the refusal to locate the store where the current one sits. They redid Alpine within the same footprint and did some additions and modifications while keeping the store open. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but it worked. If it was too messy or congested, my wife went to Plainfield (pre-replacement ) or Knapp's Corners. She even treated herself to M@C once in a while.

I think the reason why Meijer chose to build anew instead of renovate is the same reasons they chose to replace the Plainfeild store. The building as a whole is too oddly shaped to fit the current store prototype. Also the ceiling in the north eastern section of the building around the arch are only 10 feet high or most likely 12-15 feet high without the drop ceiling. That's too low for many of the overhead signs and graphics and wall graphics. In addition to these these things the store is Meijer's oldest supercenter making it safe to assume that infrastructure is woefully antiquated requiring an expensive overhaul. Lastly since the building is so old, much of it probably does not meet current building codes and updating to current codes would prove very costly.

I don't think it would be impossible for Meijer to remodel the existing building. But it would probably cost allot more than what its worth esp. if Meijer is adamant about introducing its current store prototype to the 28th street location.

[GRDadof3]

Press does not have a webcast, dang it. It's live typing. Still, it's almost like being there.

ETA: tabled due to attendance by several planning commissioners.

Ha! Protest.

[D-Man_GR]

Just read through the Press's account of yesterday's meeting. Kayla King's live chat was especially enlightening. I encourage everyone to skim through it.

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ss...h_street_m.html

I've met Herb Ranta, but I can't seem to understand his reasoning to basically ignore Meijer's request. Is he upset their "revised" plan didn't seem to include any revisions (except the sound wall being raised from 12' to 16')? Any wish to have the store placed closer to 28th St is ridiculous; the existing store cannot remain operational during construction with that stipulation. And that area up front will be opened up for great outlots - possibly a couple of new restaurants. It happened with the Plainfield store, and should happen here as well!

[CK1]

Any chance that the city commissioners install their power to trump the P.C. in all situations like this? Meijer appears to be following all the rules, so regardless of complaints (which they have appeared to have done their best to address), under ordinance they should be allowed to move forward, correct?

[tamias6]

Any chance that the city commissioners install their power to trump the P.C. in all situations like this? Meijer appears to be following all the rules, so regardless of complaints (which they have appeared to have done their best to address), under ordinance they should be allowed to move forward, correct?

The City Commission is leaving open the option to strip the Planning Commission of its powers should they table Meijer's plans again., which the Planning Commission has done. This only leaves the question of the City Commission carrying through with its option or not. I hope they do. Should Meijer abandon that area, its game over for that stretch of 28th street.

[Veloise]

...Should Meijer abandon that area, its game over for that stretch of 28th street.

I typed it on the live blog, and I'll type it again here: Fred ain't leaving.

That area has the highest residential density of any Meijer I've seen. They aren't building a raw land store as in Acme, just upgrading their existing, long-claimed site. Look at the location map in the Meijer thread; they need this store.

[tamias6]

There one thing that I can't seem to let go. Meijer is acting very passive about the Planning Commisions rejections. Instead of vigorously protesting the PC's three rejections, they only response from Meijer is the courtesy "We Respect the Planning Commission's decision.". The only one's protesting the PC's rejections are the Mayor and the City Commission. There's two conclusions I can draw based on what's transpired. One Meijer is sitting back and letting the City Commission fight the battle with the Planning Commission for them which I hope is the case. Or, two, Meijer is too afraid that fighting the PC will result in another Acme Township Soap Opera.

[aowwt]

Well I think if the planning commission is smart they approve this. But agian they wont. I think they are scared. The one thing I think was bad about this entire thing was the fact that the city council did not rezone the parcel first before the planning commission took a look at it. The Council's and Commissions need to get on the same foot that a rezoning needs to be done by the Council and some variances with the rest in the hands of the commission to decide if it is the proper thing in the right location.

The reason why I think this needs to be done is that a zoning issue is something some people would get more upset about than minor issues. As a result with the Council being the only position being voted on by the people it should be them getting the call on rezoning.

[tamias6]

Mayer Hartwell still trying to negotiate a compromise deal with PC to get Meijer's plans moving.

Mlive Article

The mayor seems to reluctant to use the option to strip the PC of its power calling it a "nuclear bomb" option. But the option is still not out of the question.

[Gorath]

I'm wondering what kind of precedent this would be setting. It seems to me that the planning commission has created a new rule that retail can not be built right next to residential. If they apply this here with Meijer then they would have to apply this everywhere.

This would essentially kill a lot of redevelopment, especially in areas like 28th street where a lot of residential is built next to commercial retail. While it may be possible to build the buildings out next to the street and put the parking out back, this is an inefficient use of land as it would require driveways to get back there. Some sites are narrow enough where the drive could take up a good portion of the site. And some sites are not very deep and you would never be able to build the building far enough away as is being required by Meijer. Let's not kid ourselves here. 28th street will never be pedestrian friendly, there is just way too much traffic. In the future the only thing that may be possible to redevelop on these sites would be office. NIMBYs may even get office use blocked. After all, NIMBYs stop residential (apartments) from being built next to residential (single family).

Back to the Meijer site. They can't rebuild in the same location as the existing building. That would put the store right next to the residential on the west. The only other place they could build is next to the street. But they would have to do something with the facade that faces the street, and they will have a more difficult time hiding the loading docks from view. This would also put all their parking right next to all the homes. To me that seems worse as far as noise goes. Would you rather have a building that you can't hear next to you or a 24 hour parking lot?

[tamias6]

Here's a nice editorial of how the 28th street/K'zoo Meijer became the first Thrifty Acers. Fred and and Family took a hug gamble starting this store. Also there is a nice photo of what the store looked like back when it was started. The Arch looks really cool!

Editiorial

[Raildudes dad]

Here's a nice editorial of how the 28th street/K'zoo Meijer became the first Thrifty Acers. Fred and and Family took a hug gamble starting this store. Also there is a nice photo of what the store looked like back when it was started. The Arch looks really cool!

Editiorial

I think I've posted this here before but my brother-in-law owned a grocery store on Wealthy at that time and he likes to tell the story that he and Fred were visiting at some trade function and Fred told him he was so nervous because he had just borrowed $1,000,000 to build the first Thrifty Acres.

[mgreven]

NIMBY's win again...

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ss...ropping_pl.html

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ss...eelings_ab.html

When Mark Murray says that it will be open for the holiday season, doesn't sound promising in the long run.

Between this and reading about neighbors opposing everything on the west side...these neighbors sure know how to kill their own neighborhoods. A vacant meijer next door will be great in a few years...much better than loading docks.

[Veloise]

NIMBY's win again...

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ss...ropping_pl.html

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ss...eelings_ab.html

When Mark Murray says that it will be open for the holiday season, doesn't sound promising in the long run.

Between this and reading about neighbors opposing everything on the west side...these neighbors sure know how to kill their own neighborhoods. A vacant meijer next door will be great in a few years...much better than loading docks.

Commissioners had given the rezoning its preliminary approval and were poised to approve the request at its meeting next week.

The rezoning needs to be implemented, and then after the holiday hoopla, Fred's A&E folk can return to the drawing board.

M2's comments about them pulling product refers to anticipation of construction starting (assuming that the site plan was approved already). He also says "many holiday seasons to come."

[Delvrin]

From the comments in the article, it appears that they will keep the old store open as long as it remains profitable. Maybe in a few years the PC will be less hostile.