Planning Commission approves modified Meijer plan

The Avon Planning commission approved an amended final development for a new Meijer grocery store coming to Avon in 2019 on Oct. 18.

Originally approved in 2015, the modified site plan will bring a 157,000 square foot Meijer retail store in addition to a 3,376 foot convenience store and gas station to 1810 Nagel Road.

Following approval from the planning commission, Meijer will go through an eight-week building process before going out to bid in early 2018 in preparation to begin construction in spring, 2018. The store is scheduled to open in May, 2019.

After purchasing the 23.17 acre site in November, 2015 for $4.63 million, Meijer officials decided to reduce the square footage after conducting a comprehensive analysis, according to Real Estate Manager Chris Jones.

“We have, at senior leadership’s request, really dove into analyzing what store works best for Meijer in the future.” Jones said.

Jones said after the crunching the data and analyzing the company’s needs from a retail perspective it was determined to reduce the size down to 157,000 square feet after the original plan called for 192,000 square feet.

He added that through the process Meijer had invested $1.3 million in site improvements which included widening Nagel Road, sewer and gas line infrastructure improvements along with constructing Middleton Road.

“The conclusion of that analysis that went on for months and months was that our store of the future would be 157,000 square feet,” he said. “Our executives came to the conclusion that they agreed with our analysis and all of our 2019 stores would be built using this format.”

In moving forward with the new plan, Jones said Meijer sacrificed some areas of the store in order to maintain the grocery, pharmacy beauty and health sections as the same size as the original 192,000 square foot plan. In reducing the square footage Meijer gained two parcels of land left over for potential future development.

The retail store will feature Starbucks, Huntington Bank with the potential to add more vendors as the project comes closer to completion.

The Michigan based currently has 240 retail locations across six states, including 40 stores in Ohio.