The Snyderville Planning Commission considered a proposal on Tuesday for a Harmons grocery store in the outlet mall near Kimball Junction, and commissioners indicated the project can move forward.
But Commission Vice-Chair John Kucera says the applicants will face the hurdle of justifying additional density they’re bringing to the mall.
The county staff said that the plan from Outlets Park City, to demolish Building C and replace it with a 76,000-square-foot grocery, is adding density.
John Kucera said the staff will study the project density further. A date has not been set yet for a subsequent meeting.
The staff contends the applicants must comply with Provision 2.3 of the Snyderville General Plan, which says the county won’t approve new density right now unless a project shows it meets a compelling, countervailing public interest.
The applicants respond that their plan is a redevelopment.
Kucera told KPCW that the element of the plan that would add square footage is a proposed mezzanine.
“We received some updated numbers. It’s roughly 61,000 square feet of building that would be demolished, replaced by a 59,000-square-foot new building footprint, with this 17,000-square-foot mezzanine. So the change would be about 15,000 square feet total. The applicant mentioned they don’t absolutely need the mezzanine. It’s a loss-leader. But it’s a great space for people to connect and add the vibrancy of the building.”
The building that would be demolished is at the back of the mall’s first level of stores. It has several tenants currently, including a Halloweeen store, Calvin Klein, Famous Footwear and Samsonite.
At the Tuesday meeting, Adam Greenebaum, representing the mall’s owner, Singerman Real Estate, explained the developer’s vision for the project.
“Once completed, thousands of residents would have a Best in Class grocery store within close walking proximity. Shoppers and employees won’t need to move their car for an extra grocery trip or to grab a bite on their lunch break. The future of retail real estate involves clustering the goods and services that the customer wants in one location. What we have right now is a core of some of the best tenants and brands in the world, and we believe that adding this layer with Harmons, creating these synergies is really key to creating a productive, vibrant asset to the community.”
One Snyderville Commisisoner asked about the impacts of having three major grocery stores—Harmons, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart—so close together.
The answer came from Bob Harmon, the chairman of his three-generation family business. He said they’ve found in other locations that proximity is an advantage.
“We would rather have competition, even a Wal Mart, or even a Whole Foods, move closer to us than away from us. Because it aggregates the opportunity for a customer to not have to travel one place to another place, re-park, move a lot of distance in order to actually fill their basket. We offer something completely different than Whole Foods. We offer something completely different than Wal Mart. Traffic is always going to be the bigger consideration here, in flow and in making sure that that’s going to work really well.”
Kucera said the planning commission will look closely at the traffic impacts of having a grocery in the middle of a mall.
“There’s a lot of activity going on there. But it it’s not a grocery store, if there’s something else in the outlet, they sort of posited that it was a retail for retail. And the number of people could be similar. I think either way, the Outlet Park City is going to try to be bringing in more traffic relative to what it is now, given the change in retail. They talk about the potential for a different access road for deliveries.”
Snyderville Planning Vice-Chairman John Kucera, who said the Harmons grocery is likely the first of many opportunities to better plan the Kimball Junction area for traffic, trails and connectivity.
