Whole Foods will anchor the Sauer Center development. (Rendering courtesy Freeman Morgan Architects)
Walls came tumbling down during the winter at the old Pleasants Hardware building on West Broad Street, where construction is underway for a Whole Foods store that will anchor the 200,000-square-foot Sauer Center development.
Whole Foods has not announced an opening date, but the building is set for completion this fall, according to contractor L.F. Jennings. Dewey Gills, chief executive officer of of Freeman Morgan Architects, which is designing the 45,000-square-foot store, said interior work could begin in October.
The Pleasants demolition uncovered a brick wall with window openings at 2022 W. Broad St. “That exterior facade will be seen from the interior from Whole Foods,” Gills says. “That’s going to be part of their decor.”
Mark A. Olinger, director of Richmond’s department of Planning and Development Review, said the Sauer Center will be a multimillion-dollar project that also encompasses two warehouses behind the C.F. Sauer Co. headquarters on Hermitage Road and the former Virginia Department of Taxation building next to Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, which will remain. Sauer Properties, the development arm of food manufacturer C.F Sauer, will lease the buildings for retail and office space. “They’re aggressively pursuing a mix of commercial tenants,” Olinger says.
