Malta, the rural town that is poised to grow by leaps and bounds, may soon have another grocery option besides a Price Chopper in the downtown area.
Hannaford Supermarkets announced on Monday, Sept. 14, plans for a 35,000-square-foot store near exit 11 off the Northway. Depending on many factors, including how quickly the project can move through the approval process, the store could be in business by 2011.
The proposed store would provide about 100 jobs, said company officials, and include a pharmacy, butcher shop, produce and seafood departments, a bakery and a deli. It would be located on the west end of the Malta Mall at the southeast Corner of Round Lake Road and Chango Drive.
The mall is owned by Country Club Acres, and is home to a number of local businesses such as the Malta Health and Fitness Center, Great American Awning and Fireside Patio and Aird Dorrance, a Kohler fixture showroom.
With the planned supermarket will come a renovation of the entire shopping center, said County Club Acres’s real estate agent Dean Taylor, of Re/Max Park Place, who added that his office has been in contact with Hannaford for five years and in direct negotiations for two.
Hannaford is building their store, and we are remodeling the rest of the mall, he said. `Although we have good tenants at the mall, this is landing an anchor and that should help us land higher profile tenants.`
Taylor said 9,600 square feet of retail space will be created by the renovations, which will first be offered to current tenants.
The Malta Mall was formerly home to a Grand Union store that quit the plaza about a decade ago. Its lease ran for another five years after it vacated, though, and Country Club Acres began seeking another tenant soon thereafter.
Hannaford spokesman Michael Norton said the preliminary plan is to build new space onto the old building. The new space should hold nearly the entire store.
Though the supermarket is slated for a 2011 opening, Taylor said it would be opened as soon as it is ready. A Trustco bank branch will likely accompany the grocery store.
The project will likely need approval from both the Town Board and the Planning Board, as it will require Planned Development District legislation. Town Supervisor Paul Sausville on Monday said that he was aware of the impending announcement.
`It has been in the works for a while, and it’s just now ready for announcement,` he said.
Building and Planning Coordinator Anthony Tozzi said that the town has not received any applications pertaining to the supermarket.
The supermarket would be one element of a likely town wide expansion. With a $4.2 billion GlobalFoundries factory set to open in 2012, it’s expected business in the rural municipality will increase markedly.
Norton said that the GlobalFoundries project was definitely on the company’s radar, though a location in Malta also fills another market in the chain’s Capital Dristrict presence.
`That’s obviously a factor, but it’s also just an opportunity to put ourselves a good many miles closer to people who are living or working in the area,` he said. `There’s an opportunity for people to not have to travel as far to find us.`
Hannaford is based in Scarborough, Maine, and operates 171 stores in five Northeast states.“