Traverse City’s first free-standing Starbucks location and a relocated Rite Aid Pharmacy are headed to the former Arby’s site at the corner of East Front and Garfield in Traverse City.

An 11,115 square foot Rite Aid Pharmacy with drive-thru will be located on the west side of the property, and a 2,190 square foot Starbucks along the east side, with a drive-thru running parallel to the Civic Center. The site will also include a 1,212 square foot retail building for lease along East Front. Parking will be situated between Rite Aid and Starbucks and south of Rite Aid.

The development does not affect Bardon’s Wonder Freeze, which has served ice cream right on the southeast corner since 1950.

Traverse City’s Michael Niedzielski of Northporte Development, LLC is the project’s developer. Niedzielski could not be reached for comment.

The project received site plan approval last week; the only remaining issue will be resolved at the Board of Zoning Appeals. Per city code, a driveway on a new building cannot be any closer than 100 feet from an existing driveway. As proposed, a reconstructed driveway on Garfield will be 72 feet from Bardon’s existing driveway to the north and 76 feet from an existing driveway to the south.

                                           

Demolition of a one-story office building on the site and the former Arby’s -- which closed in 2012 – is underway. Construction of the new buildings is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Rite Aid location on the corner of Eighth and Garfield will close when the new location opens.

The new Starbucks would be Traverse City’s first stand-alone location; the coffee giant operates shops inside Meijer and Target. Starbucks will join a busy local coffee shop market nearby; in addition to the Cuppa Joe location across Garfield, Biggby Coffee opened less than a mile east at East Bay Plaza last year, and a renamed Breakaway Café is open farther west at Four Mile. Harpo’s Coffee Café opened at Veteran’s Drive and 14th Street last month.