By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Despite rumors to the contrary in the community, the Meijer grocery store chain remains interested in building a store in Delavan at the corner of East Geneva Street and North Shore Drive. The company received final approval from the city on Dec. 4, 2018.
Though he did not confirm as a certainty that Meijer will build a store in Delavan, Frank Guglielmi, Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Meijer, did say the company does not generally purchase a site unless it plans to eventually build on it.
Guglielmi said the approvals granted by the City of Delavan give Meijer a five-year window to begin construction and this is still the first year of that window.
He said Meijer approves new stores one year at time. Stores that have been approved for 2020 are already under construction and store locations for 2021 have already been approved. Delavan is not included in either of those years’ plans, so it will be at least 2022 before construction begins at that local site.
According to Guglielmi, Meijer does not typically announce new store opening dates until they begin moving forward on construction.
City of Delavan Public Works Director Mark Wendorf confirmed that Meijer has all of the approvals it needs to move forward with the project, including its plans for a gas station/convenience store. He also said they have five years to do so before needing to go through the approval process again.
Meijer plans to develop 28.5 acres and build a 159,000 square foot main store. There will also be a 3,400 square foot fuel center on the site.
The main building will have two main entrances labeled “Home” and “Fresh”. The Fresh entrance will lead to the grocery side of the store. There will also be an entrance to the garden center and a drive-through pharmacy.
