Demolition is under way of the Safeway on Ritchie Highway in Anne Arundel County. By this time next year, local shoppers will be gearing up for theopening of a bigger, better grocery store.
Columbia-based Manekin Construction LLC said demolition of the store, which closed Sept. 22, would take about 10 days. The new Safeway, with surface and underground parking on the same location, is scheduled to be completed in late 2008.
“It was an older and outdated store, and our current prototype store is about 55,000 square feet,” said Greg TenEyck, public affairs director for Safeway. “The old store is about a third of that size, so we?ll be able to expand and bring more options to our Arnold shoppers.”
Craig Wess, president of Manekin Construction, said the 56,180-square-foot store would cost about $13 million.
The new store, designed by Richmond, Va.-based Freeman & Morgan Architects, will feature Safeway?s new “lifestyle decor and format.”
“One of the things we?re seeing is the store lighting is playing a bigger and bigger part of it,” Wess said. “If you go into a Safeway store, the ambient lighting isn?t as strong, and it?s focused on the product. That?s somewhat of a new trend with grocery stores.”
The new Safeway will include a full-service deli, a full-service bakery, natural foods, a floral center, a fresh seafood department, a service meat department, organic produce and a nut bar.
The facility will also include a Starbucks, a Bergmann?s Dry Cleaners and an in-store SunTrust Bank branch.
“That?s been going on for a while now, having those businesses in the store,” Wess said. “I personally like the Starbucks at the front of the store.”
FAST FACTS
» In addition to the Arnold Safeway, Manekin is building a 52,644-square-foot Safeway in Kensington. The firm previously built a 58,860-square-foot Safeway on Kent Island.
» At the end of 2006, Safeway operated 75 stores in Maryland.
