Price Chopper proposes new Manchester store
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By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff - Published: December 29, 2008
MANCHESTER — Price Chopper is developing a new site in town for a free-standing store that would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on Route 7A.
The new supermarket would be near the Panda Garden restaurant and the Bennington Furniture store. Both of those stores would remain.
However, to make room for the 40,000-square-foot building, three buildings — the Reebok and Bose outlets and two clothing stores — would be torn down.
The existing Price Chopper in Manchester leases about 17,000 square feet of space, although only about 9,000 square feet is used for retail.
A new entrance would be added to the plaza, while an existing access, near the roundabout, would be eliminated. The new grocery store would be roughly across the roundabout from Shaw's Supermarket.
Price Chopper would shut down its existing supermarket at the Manchester Shopping Plaza on routes 1-1/30 under the plan.
If the plan to build the store is approved, the site would be owned by the Schuyler Companies of Latham, N.Y. The commercial real estate management firm has a contract on the property and would lease it to the grocery store.
Schuyler owns several shopping complexes throughout the Albany, N.Y., area, many of them homes to Price Chopper supermarkets, including one on Route 5 in Windsor.
Town officials had a chance to review and comment on the preliminary proposal for the new Price Chopper at a joint meeting of Manchester's Development Review and Design Review boards on Dec. 17.
Manchester Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lee Krohn said the Planning Commission had already had a brief, preliminary discussion about the proposal as well.
While board members expressed strong concerns about how the store would look, there were no objections raised to the addition of a new supermarket in town or its location on Route 7A.
Several members of the boards asked Price Chopper's Director of Design Trieste Savona if the store's appearance could be changed to more closely resemble existing stores in Manchester's downtown.
"We've heard some comments and some desires along the lines of what the town would like to see at the store and I think we can come to a compromise, but I really can't alter it too much because it is precast development," Savona said.
Savona explained that Price Chopper is building stores through precast pieces to which they owned the exclusive rights.
Ellis Speath, of Speath Engineering in Dorset, explained the proposed parking, which includes about 100 spots, delivery procedures and sanitation. Efforts will already be made to balance the desire to screen parts of the building from the street for aesthetic purposes and keeping the building visible to attract customers.
During the meeting, William Sweet, vice president of engineering and construction for Price Chopper, said the company was also committed to renewable energy and "green" construction, although the building is likely to be powered by propane.
"We are working on a daily basis with (Efficiency) Vermont on a number of different lighting initiatives and really thinking outside the box on what are other things we can partner with (Efficiency) Vermont on. We will be looking at every aspect of this building to see what we might qualify for, where we can get creative," he said.
While the Development Review and Design Review boards spent about two hours discussing what the store might look like, the meeting was considered a preliminary "workshop." Sweet said the company would take all the comments from the boards into account before submitting another plan.
After the meeting, Sweet said he didn't have a target date for when the company would like to open the new store. The timetable for building a new Price Chopper in Manchester is "not as time-sensitive" as it might be in other areas because of the existing store, Sweet said.
If Price Chopper leaves the Manchester Shopping Plaza, it will join Aubuchon's Hardware, another anchor store in the plaza, which has already received permits to move to its own freestanding building in town.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.
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