Whole Foods plans huge store with 3-story parking garage

By Seth Rosen

Published: June 12, 2008

Whole Foods’ plans for a massive new store with a three-level parking garage would remake the Hydraulic Road corridor in Char-lottesville and potentially spur more development there.

The proposed 66,600-square-foot store, which developers say could open by the end of next year, could be the chain’s most environmentally friendly grocery on the Eastern Seaboard and would feature a large community space for meetings and farmers markets.

The advent of the grocery likely will bring major changes to Hydraulic. The traffic light at the intersection with Kmart and Kroger is set to be moved closer to the U.S. 250 Bypass to accommodate the store’s traffic. Cars would then not be allowed to take lefts out of the Kroger or Kmart lots.

“The reason why we are removing the light at Kmart and Kroger and moving it down to Hillsdale is just for improved traffic movement,” said Nick Rogers, a city planner, citing staff analysis showing the light’s new location would not cause traffic to back up to the bypass or 29.

Not everyone agrees with that assessment. Fenton Childers, a real estate manager for Kroger, wrote a letter this week to the Planning Commission stating his “concern” over the new signal and whether it would limit access to Kroger’s entrance.

Cheri Lewis, a member of the Planning Commission, states her reservations in blunter terms.

“I think this is the worst stretch in the city and I think it will get far worse,” she said.

Preparations for the store have already begun. The Terrace Theater and a car wash in the Kmart shopping center have been demolished to pave the way for the Whole Foods and the first section of Hillsdale Drive Extend-ed, which one day will connect Hydraulic to north of Greenbrier Drive through the Seminole Square shopping center.

Whole Foods officials declined to comment on the reasons for moving out of its 27,000-square-foot store on U.S. 29 in Albemarle County. But Nick Hahn, the project manager for the development team, which is led by Charlottesville-based Red Light Management Co., says the answer is obvious: the location.

“It is easily accessible from the city and the county, from north, south, east and west,” Hahn said. “And with the new road being a part of it, it will be even more accessible.”

But shoppers will not see the $30.5 million Hillsdale Drive for some time. The state has given Charlottesville $3.1 million for the design and engineering costs, but no more money is in the pipeline until 2014 — when the city is slated to receive another $332,000. The road will help alleviate traffic on U.S. 29 and enable neighbors and drivers to more easily reach the shopping center and Whole Foods, officials say.

The developers are responsible for the portion of the road that will run from Hydraulic to the Whole Foods, though there are no cost estimates for that stretch. The city has promised it will chip in, but has not decided how much.

“There are a lot of merits to this property even without the road,” Hahn said. “The road is just a big bonus.”

The Planning Commission vetted the store late Tuesday and called for changes to the garage size, pedestrian access and landscaping before it would sign off on the project.

Planning commissioners said other changes must be made before they approve the grocery store. The parking garage, they said, is too close to Hydraulic Road and needs to be pushed back at least 12 feet.

Then trees and landscaping can be added in the space between to create a more inviting environment.

“To put a face of a parking garage 5 feet from the street doesn’t seem to pass the test of the vision” of a pedestrian-oriented Hydraulic corridor, said Dan Rosensweig, a commissioner.

Whole Foods could bring back a revised plan to the commission as soon as next month.

Not surprisingly, city officials are thrilled at the prospect of gaining another grocery store and expanding the tax base.

“It utilizes a piece of property that in the past has been overgrown with weeds,” said Aubrey Watts, the city’s director of economic development. “And it is on bus routes.”

Just as important is the fact that it could serve as a catalyst for redevelopment along Hydraulic Road. The corridor is ripe for change, the city believes, and could use an upgrade to make it more attractive to pedestrians.

However, the delay of Hillsdale Drive means the city’s vision likely will take longer to come to fruition.