The project will start its formal process in front of the boards and commissions next month – that would be the time to weigh in on design. I am planning to voice my opinion on this one. This isn't my street, but I do live over on the east side.
The building design isn't a done deal yet (hasn't gone through the Arch Review Board) but my biggest issue is with the fact that they are taking down one house and an apartment building on Grace and Cohassett to build this. I am not opposed to the project itself, but I do not feel this is acceptable.
The city admits below that Grace and Cohassett are two of our most historic streets over here- so why are we letting Drug Mart carve it up and expand INTO the street even more? As Lakewood residents, we all understand what it means to live close to Detroit, which is a commercial corridor. But they are looking to rezone two residential parcels to expand Drug Mart's site into Grace and Cohassett. The apartment building they want to tear down looks to be in decent shape and it provides a good buffer from the commercial site to the rest of the street. The house they want to tear down, while currently abandoned, is not dilapidated. I realize that there are limited buyers for a property like this, but once it is gone, it will be gone forever.
Additionally, letting the site bleed further into two residential streets would affect very well maintained and VERY occupied houses on both streets. If I lived at those addresses, I would be very unhappy with this proposal.
Drug Mart wants to build a 25K sf building, and the parking plan as it stands is HUGE and ridiculous. They can scale back some of the parking and still fit on the site as it stands now. I think this would be a huge mistake on behalf of the city to give over these parcels and rezone for commercial. When will it end?
Discount Drug Mart is looking to expand its presence in the city.
The company — with its multi-million-dollar renovation already under way at Lakewood Plaza — has plans to move its eastern Lakewood location to the abandoned Ganley auto dealership at the corner of Cohassett and Detroit avenues.
Value World, a thrift store at W. 107th Street and Lorain Avenue in Cleveland, is considering a move into Drug Mart’s vacated location, according to officials.
The former auto dealership's showroom building would be demolished — along with an apartment building and vacant house at the rear of the property — to make way for a 24,000-square-foot Drug Mart, according to plans submitted to the city on Tuesday.
Plans call for a red brick structure, 92 parking spaces, a drive-thru, and green space that includes space for a bio-retention swale.
“That will take care of a significant piece of real estate that leaves only the Spitzer site,” said Lakewood Mayor Michael Summers.
But before ground is broken, there are a couple of hurdles ahead of the drug store chain.
The first is a proposal for a conditional use permit for a zoning change and a lot consolidation at the former Ganley site. The city’s planning commission will consider those motions on June 7.
And the following week, on June 14, the city’s architectural board of review will examine the company’s design plans.
Dru Siley, the city’s director of planning and development, said the drawings submitted Tuesday still need some refining.
“The initial building design is a good first pass, but it will need a lot of work before it can be approved,” he said. “This will have to look like a Lakewood building and not like a typical Drug Mart.”
Officials from Discount Drug Mart could not be reached for this story, but Siley said that the store is looking to compete as a grocery store — not as much as a pharmacy.
“The east end of Lakewood is, without a doubt, underserved for grocery store options,” he said.
This isn’t the only proposed development on the Ganley-owned property.
Earlier this year, Family Dollar was approved to build a store on the adjacent property across Grace Avenue.
Although a tenant for the current Drug Mart hasn’t been confirmed, Siley said that Value World “has been a part of that discussion.”
“I am encouraged to see interest in reusing the former Ganley dealership site,” he said. “The quality of the design is going to be as important here as it was for the CVS site, because Grace and Cohassett are two of our most historic residential streets.”
Siley said that early feedback has been positive from neighbors, who no longer want an abandoned building at the location.
The city — which has distributed fliers to residents throughout the neighborhood — is hosting a forum to address questions and concerns with the public at Lakewood City Hall at 6 p.m. tonight.