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A rendering of the store elevation plans on file with the City of Richmond (Photo by Susan J. Winiecki)
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A view of the Whole Foods site from the south side of West Broad Street (Photo by Susan J. Winiecki)
Looks like it's really going to happen: Official elevation drawings have been submitted to the city’s planning department for the new Whole Foods store at 2022 and 2024 W. Broad St. The store will incorporate the historic brick facade and building at 2022 W. Broad. St., but new construction will replace the existing Pleasants Hardware retail space. (That location closed Feb. 27, 2016.) The Whole Foods store will have a small entrance facing Broad Street and another larger entrance facing its parking lot, according to the plans.
In 2014, Whole Foods announced that it planned to build a 40,000-square-foot store in the new Sauer Center development.
Bradford B. Sauer, vice president of Sauer Properties Inc., a subsidiary of the 130-year-old C.F. Sauer Company, was unable to comment on the store's construction plans and timetable for opening. “We understand there is a lot of interest in this, but it is their store,” he said.
In an email, Annie Cull, a Whole Foods representative, wrote, "We haven’t announced an opening date for this store yet. We typically do that about 60 to 90 days in advance."
The new store will be next door to the C.F. Sauer offices and plant, though Whole Foods currently doesn't carry C.F. Sauer extracts and spices, or Duke's Mayonnaise, which is owned by C.F. Sauer, Cull confirmed.
Also in the Sauer Center is the historic 1905 Stephen Putney Shoe Co. factory, which is east of the state Department of Motor Vehicles and west of Lee's Chicken. The Putney building also once housed the state's tax department. Commonwealth Commercial Partners is marketing the property for lease and describes it as having about 76,000 square feet available, according to the company's website.
Rendering courtesy Commonwealth Commercial (click upper-right corner to expand)
