Whole Foods coming to Broad Street near VCU

If you weren’t excited by last month’s news about Wegmans, maybe this will tickle your grocery store fancy.

May 7, 2014; 8:56 AM • by Ross Catrow

Update #1 — May 7, 2014; 8:53 AM

While we don’t know the exact location of the planned Whole Foods, or even the scope of the future The Sauer Center, here’s a map of properties in the area owned by C.F. Sauer or Pleasants Hardware. Pleasants Hardware properites, which Sauer acquired in 1989, are green. The pink square floating off to the side is 40,000 sq ft–to give you an idea of how much space Whole Foods will need. Data from the city’s parcel mapper.

Click here for a larger version

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Original — May 06, 2014

Richmond Magazine is reporting that Whole Foods has signed a lease in Richmond–within the city limits! From the press release posted on the Whole Foods website:

Whole Foods Market announced today a signed lease for a new store in Richmond, Virginia. The approximately 40,000 square foot store will be located on Broad Street near the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. No target opening date has been set.

This news comes hot on the heels of last month’s grocery story news: Wegmans will bring two grocery stories to the area–neither in the city limits.

The new Whole Foods Market store will be part of The Sauer Center, an urban mixed-use development consisting of new and historic buildings on West Broad Street and Hermitage Road.

The full press release follows.

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Whole Foods Market® signs lease to add Richmond, Va. store

Store site will be located near Virginia Commonwealth University

Whole Foods Market announced today a signed lease for a new store in Richmond, Virginia. The approximately 40,000 square foot store will be located on Broad Street near the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. No target opening date has been set.

The location will allow the store to serve the people who live, work and go to school in the city, as well as the number of visitors to nearby museums and attractions. Whole Foods Market currently has one other store in the area. The Short Pump location celebrated its five-year anniversary in September.

“Richmond, particularly the Broad Street area, has such a vibrant, unique energy – from historic neighborhoods to stimulating museums, from dynamic residents to creative students – and this new site will allow Whole Foods Market to grow within the city while continuing to strengthen our established relationships,” said Scott Allshouse, Whole Foods Market Mid-Atlantic regional president. “Ever since Whole Foods Market came to the area more than five years ago, we’ve built meaningful partnerships with local suppliers, community organization and nonprofits. We’re excited to expand those connections and make new neighbors in the process.”

As with all Whole Foods Market locations, community engagement is an important aspect as the company works to fulfill its core values. The Short Pump store has worked with local partners such as William Byrd Community House, the Richmond Peace Education Center, Neighborhood Housing Services of Richmond and Oyster Shell Recycling Program at the VCU Rice Rivers Center.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones showed his appreciation of Whole Foods Market’s commitment saying, “Neighborhoods come to life when Whole Foods Market arrives, bringing hundreds of new jobs and millions in new investment. We hope that this store will quickly turn West Broad Street into a thriving retail corridor with lots of excitement and new energy. We all owe our thanks to the Sauer Family for being such good stewards of their property in the city for generations, and we look forward for more to come.”

“The new Whole Foods Market store will be part of The Sauer Center, an urban mixed-use development consisting of new and historic buildings on West Broad Street and Hermitage Road,” stated Bradford B. Sauer, Vice President of Sauer Properties, Inc., the developer of the project. “I have long been an admirer of Whole Foods Market, and we are thrilled to have them as the anchor tenant for The Sauer Center. Once completed, The Sauer Center will be a transformational development for this area of the city and will bring additional upscale retailers while preserving the area’s historic character and fabric.”

Photo by: afagen