By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor
Shrewsbury – If all goes according to plan, Whole Foods will be the newest grocery store chain to open a store in Shrewsbury.
The company announced July 30 that it is planning to open a store at the site of the former Spag's property on Route 9.
The Southborough-based Grossman Development Group is now in the process of developing that location, which has been named “Lakeway Commons.” Earlier, Town Meeting approved a number of zoning changes for the 20-acre property, which is planned to be a mix of retail and residential.
Grossman is now in the process of going through the planning stages and is anticipated to start the permitting process this fall, with the hopes of breaking ground on the project in the spring of 2015.
The new Whole Foods store will be about 50,000 square feet and is anticipated to employ about 175 full and part time employees. The store is anticipated to open in mid-2016, according to company officials.
Mark Hebert, vice president of development and a principal with the Grossman Development Group, spoke of the vision his company has for the former Spag's property, which was last owned by Building 19, at a meeting earlier this year.
Grossman, he said, is envisioning a “village type of development.” The front of the complex would have large retail stores that faced into the village, rather than facing onto Route 9.
The idea, Hebert added, was to make it a pedestrian-friendly village that would appeal to young working professionals who worked right over the Shrewsbury/Worcester border at the University of Massachusetts medical complex.
“We want to make it a place that residents can live and play in, and not have to rely on their cars,” he said.