Longmeadow Shops expansion nearly complete

Jan. 6, 2017 | Chris Goudreau
cgoudreau@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow Shops expansion project is nearing total completion.

The new 21,000-square-foot building was completed in November and new tenants will be opening up shop at various times this winter.

Steve Walker, manager of Grove Property Fund, which owns the Longmeadow Shops, told Reminder Publications J. Crew is set to open Jan. 24, a Verizon Shop is anticipated to open sometime in early February, and the new CVS drive-thru pharmacy is scheduled to open on March 12.

“All tenants are inside doing their build-outs currently,” he noted.

He added Grove Property Fund is in discussions with a potential tenant for the old CVS space.

“We do have a tenant lined up for the old Shoenique [Shoes] space at the shopping center, Walker said. “The lease isn’t signed yet so I can’t tell you exactly who the tenant is. But it’s a bread bakery and they make their own sandwiches and paninis on their homemade breads. And they bake their breads from scratch. They get flour from the Golden Triangle of Montana and they grind the grains every morning.”

Walker said he anticipates signing a lease agreement with the tenant sometime this week and the business should open sometime between mid-March to early April.

The only additional work taking place at the Shops includes miscellaneous site work such as finalizing curbing and parking lot striping, which is set to be completed this week as well.

The Shops now offers a total of 600 parking spaces. Prior to the expansion, there were 463 spaces, he noted.

“January, February, and March – the winter seasons here – are the slowest seasons of any parking center,” he added. “Sales are typically down 30 percent. Traffic is down 30 percent. And through the planning and zoning phases we have a snow pad where its been requested we put the snow. So, that’s what we’re doing.”

Walker said residents he’s spoken with have had positive things to say about the expansion.

“As far as the architecture – [they’re] very enthusiastic,” he explained. “I’ve gotten lots of compliments about how beautiful the building looks. The new parking lot [is] not quite done yet, [but] most people do think it’s a vast improvement. I can’t say everybody thinks it’s a vast improvement … I think what they need to recognize is once that CVS pharmacy opens over there folks are going to be able to park right in front of the door. They’ll be no curb so that the asphalt and the sidewalk are on the same level. It’s going to be so much easier for people to access the CVS here.”

He added he also spoke with a representative from CVS who told him that there’s “no way” the company would close the other location on Longmeadow Street.

“It does way too much prescription business and it’s an aging community,” he noted. “They expect to do more business over there.”

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