Three major retail developments are moving forward in Traverse City this summer. The Ticker has the latest on a new Hobby Lobby store opening in Buffalo Ridge Center, a Starbucks and Rite Aid coming to the corner of East Front Street and Garfield Avenue, and a massive Blain’s Farm & Fleet location planned on US-31 near Chums Corner.

Hobby Lobby
Following nearly a year of back-and-forth negotiations between developer Joe Sarafa and Garfield Township officials, a proposed 55,000 square-foot Hobby Lobby store in Buffalo Ridge Center has received the official green light to proceed.

Construction crews have been busy demolishing the former Horizon Outlet Center building and leveling the adjacent parking lot (pictured) to make way for the national arts and crafts retailer after township officials recently approved the project. The store is slated to occupy a majority of the western section of the complex and will require a reconfiguration of the US-31 shopping center’s parking and sidewalk systems, providing connections between Hobby Lobby and other tenants including Lucky’s Market, AMC’s Cherry Blossom 14/IMAX movie theater, and Outback Steakhouse.

Determining how the retail center should be revamped to accommodate the presence of a major new retail tenant required protracted discussions between Sarafa and township officials on everything from parking to sidewalk to lighting requirements for Buffalo Ridge Center. Both sides eventually agreed that the main internal access drive running up from US-31 into the shopping center will need to be redesigned, providing traffic calming infrastructure and enhanced pedestrian and universally accessible crossings. Preliminary work underway now on the reconstruction of the main drive and parking lot is causing traffic to be routed to side access points to Lucky’s and AMC. Sarafa has also agreed to install a new nine-foot-wide sidewalk that will connect Hobby Lobby to AMC; additional sidewalks are required to be built connecting other areas of the property if future new buildings are constructed.

Sarafa tells The Ticker that Hobby Lobby will likely be completed and open sometime between spring and summer 2019. Site documents for Buffalo Ridge Center show a future 39,500 square-foot building – which has been discussed as a potential hotel – and a 3,200 square-foot retail building could also eventually come to the property. Sarafa says he hasn’t yet begun searching for those tenants. “I try and do one (new tenant) a year,” he says. “I did the theater one year, I did Lucky’s one year. That’s about all I can really handle – then I look for the next one.”

Starbucks/Rite Aid
Two years after project plans were first announced, construction on Traverse City’s first free-standing Starbucks and a relocated Rite Aid Pharmacy is moving ahead at the corner of East Front Street and Garfield Avenue next to Bardon’s Wonder Freeze.

Crews are now working on-site to build three buildings on the property, including a 2,190 square-foot Starbucks and an 11,115 square-foot Rite Aid Pharmacy with a drive-thru. The Rite Aid store on the corner of Eighth Street and Garfield Avenue will close when the new location opens. Another 1,212 square-foot retail building on the site will host a third as-yet-unannounced retail tenant.

According to Doug Mansfield of Mansfield Land Use Consultants, a consultant for the development, a variety of factors including lease negotiations, pricing of construction materials, and site plan reconfigurations caused delays on the project. Rite Aid, for example, wanted a wider driveway for truck deliveries than was permitted under city ordinance; developers also had to work with the city on building floor plans and driveway configurations given the site’s tight proximity to a major intersection. But Mansfield says “everything with the city has been resolved” and construction is now moving ahead. The consultant could not provide an exact timeline for an estimated completion date; developer Michael Niedzielski did not return a request for comment. Project representatives had previously stated construction of the new buildings could take six months.

Blain’s Farm & Fleet
Midwest retail chain Blain’s Farm & Fleet is planning a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at 11am at the site of the company’s planned new store at the corner of US-31 South and Rennie School Road.

The company is planning to build an at least 100,000 square-foot new store on the vacant parcel near Wuerfel Park. Blain’s offers a broad selection of agricultural, sporting, automotive, hardware, outdoor, household, pet, clothing, and other goods. Owner and President Jane Blain Gilbertson previously told The Ticker the company is targeting a spring 2019 grand opening and that the store will likely bring 100 jobs to Traverse City. Construction of the store will also necessitate the installation of a new traffic signal at the US-31 South/Rennie School Road intersection.

As store representatives prepare to break ground this week, the Grand Traverse Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) will meet Wednesday at 8am at the Governmental Center to consider approving a brownfield plan for the entire 76-acre property site, including the nearly 24 acres sold to Blain’s and another 52 surrounding surrounding still owned by the Grand Traverse County Land Bank Authority. According to brownfield documents, Blain’s Farm & Fleet plans to invest an estimated $10 million into its new store; of the remaining 52 acres owned by the Land Bank Authority, 27 acres are being targeted for purchase for the development of “business storage and warehouse operations with an estimated investment of $7.5 million,” while the remaining 25 acres are slated for future residential development.

The proposed $1.58 million brownfield plan would capture future tax increase on the entire property site to reimburse costs for making the parcels development-ready now, including environmental assessments and demolition, site preparation, and infrastructure activities. Planned infrastructure upgrades include Rennie School Road improvements and a new connector road between Rennie School Road and Stadium Drive. After the 10-year life of the brownfield plan is complete, project documents estimate the entire property site will generate over $516,700 annually in taxes for local and state jurisdictions.