Plans for a new Fareway grocery store in LeClaire moved forward Monday night, May 2.
The LeClaire City Council approved a resolution that provides financial support for the $4 million Fareway project. The new grocery store could be open for business in about a year.
Under Resolution 22-085, economic development grants will be provided to the grocery store’s developer, GRT QC Properties. That money will be comprised of a 15-year tax increment financing (TIF) grant, and a $400,000 grant from the city. Council members on Monday approved the resolution with little comment from the council.
City Administrator Dennis Bockenstedt told the council that the next steps will be to prepare and approve a development agreement and the urban renewal plan for the grocery store project. That will take about two months, he said.
“(Fareway’s) goal is to be open by this time next year,” Mayor Dennis Gerard said.
The council also voted 4-0 on a separate resolution to amend the Urban Revitalization Plan for the Fareway project.
The Fareway project went public during the April 18 council’s committee of the whole meeting. During that meeting, council members and the public were told of plans to renovate the former Slagle Foods store at 1301 Eagle Ridge Road into a new Fareway full-service grocery store.
If all goes according to plan, the development agreement and urban renewal plans will be approved this summer, exterior facade work will be done this fall, interior renovation work will begin in December or January and the new Fareway will open for business in the summer of 2023.
Here are some of the project’s details, according to city council documents and information from Fareway:
- It will involve more than a $4 million investment.
- The new store will employ about 60 workers including about 15 full-time employees.
- The grocery store will occupy just over 18,000 square feet. A Fareway official said the company does not plan to do any major expansions to the existing site, but it might add on to the rear of the building near the dock area.
- It will include a full-service bakery and meat market. Also, the location will offer FastLanes, a self-service checkout option, and online shopping and curbside pick-up, available at Shop.Fareway.com.
- The city described the project as a “full remodel and reconstruction of grocery space.”
- The current taxable value of the property at 1301 Eagle Ridge Road is about $1.28 million. Currently, the shopping center at that location contains the vacant Slagle’s and four businesses on the northeast end: First Central State Bank, Above the Barre Dance Academy, Breakfast at Berries and LaVie Nail Lounge. A GRT QC Properties official said those four businesses would not be displaced by the Fareway project.
The Boone, Iowa-based Fareway operates 129 stores in a six-state region including several in the Quad Cities region. It is a family-owned business and has more than 12,000 employees.
