116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Hy-Vee site plan for new Tower Terrace store approved
May. 4, 2012 7:35 am
The site plan for a new Hy-Vee Food Store west of C Avenue NE and south of the proposed Tower Terrace Road NE, near Cedar Rapids' border with Robins, won unanimous backing Thursday from the City Planning Commission.
The store will begin as an 80,000-square-foot one and be designed to expand to 107,000 square feet in size. Hy-Vee, which has said it will build in perhaps two years, also will build a 4,300-square-foot convenience store with fuel pumps and a 3,900-square-foot car wash at the front of the site facing the future Tower Terrace Road.
The store will sit next to a residential neighborhood, and commission members asked Hy-Vee representatives about its plans to buffer the new store from homes. The store will incorporate new city building design standards - including using differing materials on the facade of the building to visually break up its size and using screening to hide heating and cooling units on the roof - even though those standards won't be in place for a few months.
Commission member Allan Thoms questioned why the Hy-Vee plan called for 507 parking spaces when city standards allow for fewer, and Hy-Vee representatives said the extra space is needed, in part, to allow room for outdoor sales. Thoms asked Hy-Vee to consider using permeable paving on the extra parking area.
Neighbors have supported Hy-Vee's plans even as they have objected to the property owner's larger plans to build other commercial structures closer to residences to the west of the planned grocery store. However, the City Council has approved a rezoning for the entire commercial development.
Hy-Vee representatives have said the company's long-range plan is to close its store in leased space at 279 Collins Rd. NE, next to Lindale Mall, at some point after the location at C Avenue and Tower Terrace Road NE opens.