LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow Shops expansion project is set to be completed Nov. 1 and will feature new stores such as Verizon, J. Crew Mercantile, and a drive-thru CVS.

Steve Walker, manager of Grove Property Fund, which owns the Longmeadow Shops, told Reminder Publications the space where the existing CVS is located would also have a new tenant.

“It’s too early to speak of any names yet,” he noted.

The project began construction on March 1 and features a 13,100-square-foot CVS, a 1,900-square-foot Verizon store, and a 6,100-square-foot J. Crew Mercantile, Walker said.

He added CVS is slated to reopen its doors in the expanded location around the beginning of March 2017 and the Verizon store would likely open January 2017.

When asked why these companies were chosen to become tenants at the shops, Walker stated, “Well, [with] Verizon everyone has a phone and people seem to be excited about having a Verizon store right in town. J. Crew Mercantile is one of the top national retailers in the country. There’s not one in this market. So, there’s not one in Holyoke. There’s not one in northern Connecticut … We find that historically when we were able to put in a tenant in here that doesn’t have other stores in the market, they do extremely well.”

Walker said he’s heard a lot of positive responses from residents, especially about improvements to the Shop’s parking lot.

“We’re redoing the entire Longmeadow Shops parking lot [and] adding a significant amount of parking spaces,” he added. “We’re making improvements to all three entrances going into the shopping center. We’re making improvements to the pedestrian walkways in front of the shopping center. We’re making improvements from the sidewalk to the shopping center – installing some sidewalks from the existing sidewalk on Bliss Road to the sidewalks in front of the shopping center.”

The Planning Board approved the project for 169 parking spots during the site and design review process.

Walker said the improvements would also eliminate dead end rows in the parking lot.

At least one member of the Planning Board expressed concerns in the past about adequate parking spaces during winter months where snow is typically stored in parking areas.

“They did not make any provisions for us to have to store snow or remove snow,” Walker explained. “I think what they finally decided was that we’re professional managers of the shopping center and we’re going to do the best thing for our tenants and if that means moving snow out, we’ll move snow out.”

The plan to create the expansion project was in the works for about a year and a half prior to Grove Property Fund coming before the town for approval, Walker said.

“We’ve been taking to these tenants for over two years, some of them,” he added.  

Residents initially shot down a required zone change from residential to business for the project at the November 2014 Special Town Meeting. However, due to voting errors a revote took place during the Feb. 3 2015 Town Meeting, in which the zone change was approved by a landslide.