The rumor mill surrounding a new Aldi’s grocery store planned for the Stevensville area that has been spinning for a couple of years now has become reality. In fact, Lincoln Township Building Inspector Jim Pheifer has been talking to developers and Aldi company officials for several years. After finally getting a site plan from the developers earlier this year, Lincoln Township officials say building plans and the application for a building permit have been submitted this week, which will result in a new 20,000 square foot grocery store on vacant property between Tractor Supply Co. and the Stevensville Hampton Inn.
Pheifer says this morning that the site, located at 5110 Red Arrow Highway on the opposite side of the road from the Stevensville Meijer store, is a 5-acre site, but the Aldi store will only use three of those five acres, leaving room for ancillary development of other retail opportunities between the new store and Tractor Supply. The store will take the northern 3-acres and be situated closest to the Hampton Inn on that site.
While there is no timeline for the store as yet, Pheifer says that typically big box stores like the forthcoming Aldi “go up pretty fast, and since we’re coming into the warmer weather season it will likely take 6-months or less” to be built.
The vacant property situated between I-94 and Red Arrow Highway has been zone commercial mixed-use for many years, and Pheifer has talked to many developers over the years who have shown an interest in the property, but adds, “Until they identify who they’re actually looking at the land on behalf of, we don’t typically know what’s planned until site plans, building plans and building permits get applied for and submitted.”
Even though Aldi has been looking at the Stevensville market for several years, Pheifer says it had been “kind of quiet” for a while, before finally stepping up with the site plan and now the building permit application.
Building plans for the 20,000 square foot store show parking for 100 vehicles on site. Look for construction to get underway, “early in May,” according to Pheifer who says he’s happy to see new growth coming to the Lincoln Township market.
There are also Aldi stores on Pipestone in Benton Charter Township and in South Haven across Southwest Michigan.
