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September 21, 2002Walgreen's finally finds location in Traverse after 10 years of looking- 14,560-square-foot drug store planned for U.S. 31-Holiday Hills areaBy BILL ECHLINRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - After a decade of trying to find just the right location in the Traverse City area, a developer working with the Walgreen's drug chain is planning to build a store at the corner of U.S. 31 North and Holiday Hills Road in East Bay Township. TC Investments LLC, a unit of Retail Development Inc. of Naples, Fla., is purchasing the former East Bay Calvary Church property at the corner. A closing on the purchase is expected within a few weeks. TC Investments in July received site plan approval from East Bay Township for two buildings at the site. One would be a 14,560-square-foot drug store for Walgreen's and the other a 5,600-square-foot building for other shops. TC Investments has also notified Traverse City that it is dropping plans to build a Walgreen's at the northeast corner of West Front and Division streets. The company had applied for a brownfield contaminated-site redevelopment designation from the Grand Traverse County Brownfield Development Authority. The decision not to go forward halts that application. The project would have involved the former Union 76 gas station and two parcels to the east on West Front. One of the terms of the East Bay site-plan approval was to relocate the entrance to the property away from the intersection with Holiday Hills Road to reduce congestion. The developer agreed and will purchase an easement for a new drive from the Boy Scouts of America, which has an office next door. The store should be ready to open sometime next spring, said Larry Campbell, a representative for the developers. It will offer a wide range of products in addition to prescription drugs but will not sell alcoholic beverages or lottery tickets, Campbell said. It will feature a two-lane drive-through area. A spokeswoman for Walgreen's at it's Deerfield, Ill. headquarters said she couldn't comment because a final deal between the company and Retail Development Inc. had not yet been signed. Agents hired by Walgreen's to find sites in the Traverse City market have been frustrated over the years. In 1993 a store was proposed for the northwest corner of Eighth Street and Munson Avenue but area residents opposed the needed rezoning. They said the store would cause noise and traffic problems. Walgreen's dropped the project and a large motel was built on the site. In 1997 a deal to assemble a number of properties in the West Front-Division area for a development, including a Walgreen's, came apart. At that time unresolved questions over liability for groundwater pollution in the area caused an agent to back out of the deal. A second effort to build a Walgreen's there was just recently dropped, Campbell said, because the store would have been much smaller than the company likes - 6,000 square feet instead of nearly 15,000 - and there were difficulties in coming up with a plan for drive-through service. Campbell said Walgreen's remains intent on moving into and expanding in the Traverse City area and he expects there will be other stores in addition to the East Bay project. Walgreen Co. opened 86 stores during August, including 18 relocations, and closed two. As of Aug. 31, the company operated 3,884 drugstores in 43 states and Puerto Rico, up from 3,520 a year ago. Bill Echlin is the reporter for business and tourism. He can be reached at (231) 933-1493, or at bechlin@record-eagle.com |
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