The return of Dino’s Restaurant and Pancake House a year ago has proven to be the boost that George Hanus finally needed to breathe new life into his retail plaza at the top of the Niles Road hill near Hilltop Road in St. Joseph Charter Township. With a parking lot constantly bustling with traffic at the popular restaurant, Hanus was finally able to strike a deal with a major national retailer to take over the entire south building there which will result in a full commercial center for the first time ever.
Dino’s Restaurant owner Dino Tripodis is excited too, as the forthcoming new store will provide additional exposure to his Pancake House going forward.
Contractors from Critical Path Management in Grand Rapids are currently performing build-out on the space immediately adjacent to Dino’s to prepare for Check ‘N Go to move from the south building to the north wing down the strip from Domino’s Pizza. With Salon Centric also housed in that strip, the center will finally be filled once the south building has been converted into a single, large space for the new tenant Dollar Tree at 2090 Niles Road.
Tripodis says that the five individual store front units, or bays, in that wing which once housed Quizno’s, an insurance agency and a stock brokerage firm among others at various times over the years in addition to Check ‘N Go will become a new Dollar Tree store from one end of the strip to the other. That store is anticipated to be opening in the spring of 2018 around the April time frame according to Dino.
Like Tripodis and other tenants in the complex, Dollar Tree will be leasing the space from Chicago Lawyer and Developer George Hanus of Shopping Plaza, Inc. and GNH Developers. Hanus owns nearly 200 shopping plazas across the United States like the one in Southtown St. Joseph, and plays a hands-on role in getting new tenants up and running. The complex just off of Hilltop and Niles is a neighbor to the St. Joseph Walgreens store, as well.
