Hy-Vee gets zoning change for new store on future Tower Terrace Road extension

Hy-Vee won a victory Tuesday night as the council approved a zoning change to clear the way for the company to build a store on the west side of C Avenue NE, south of the proposed Tower Terrace Road extension.

The 7-2 vote was the first of three needed for final passage; two others will come in the weeks ahead.

After the vote, David Bailie, Hy-Vee assistant vice president for real estate, said it was too soon to know just when the company might build on the site, though it could be a few years, he said.

The company has said its long-range plan is to replace its current store at 279 Collins Rd. NE with a new one on C Avenue. There are two years remaining on the lease at the Collins Road store, though Bailie said it easily can be extended well into the future.

He said it was important for Hy-Vee to secure the location at C Avenue and the future Tower Terrace Road NE, which he called “a natural site” for a grocery store.

The Hy-Vee plan takes up part of a 33-acre project by Butschi Real Estate Co., and neighbors around the larger development have objected to certain aspects of it even as they have embraced the coming of a new store.

Allen Witt, an engineer with Hall & Hall Engineers representing Butschi and Hy-Vee, told the council that Butschi had made numerous changes to its initial development plan to try to better buffer it from the neighbors.

Still, Scott Olson voted against the Butschi proposal because he said the company should do more to that end. Don Karr also voted no.