Rezoning Requested for Possible Meijer Store

BOARDMAN, Ohio – The Boardman Township zoning commission will meet June 5 to consider a request to rezone 4.3 acres off Lockwood Boulevard for what township leaders speculate could be a retail store for the Meijer chain.

The property sits at the rear of 38.9 acres at Lockwood and U.S. Route 224 that Mercy Health Youngstown LLC is selling to Carnegie Management and Development Corp., Cleveland. Carnegie is requesting a zone change from  R-1 Single Family to C-Commercial, according to a letter from Richard J. Pichola, senior project manager with the company.

The application for the rezoning did not identify or describe the project planned for the site, and Carnegie representatives declined to provide details, citing a confidentiality agreement.

“There are lots of indications but we have no paperwork at this time that states that it is Meijer,” Boardman Township Trustee Tom Costello said following a meeting of the board of trustees Tuesday afternoon.

The main indication is that Carnegie Management and Development Corp.has worked with Meijer in the past.

“That doesn’t mean there’s any guarantee,” Costello qualified,” but they have worked with them in the past.”

A Mercy Health spokesman said he is unable to discuss the buyer or its plans for the property. “We can’t make any announcements until they deem it’s the proper time,” said Jonathon Fauvie, integrated communications/public relations manager for Mercy’s Youngstown and Lorain regions.

Based in Grand Rapids, Mich., Meijer Stores Ltd. is based in Grand Rapids, Mich. The company operates more than 230 supercenters and grocery stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. It is family-owned and describes itself as the the nation’s 19th largest privately held company.

A Boardman store would be the second planned Mahoning Valley location for the Meijer grocery chain. In 2016 and 2017, the company purchased adjacent parcels in Austintown along Mahoning Avenue. A grocery store at that site is not expected to open before 2020.

A Meijer in Boardman would be “a great addition to the community” and “give some serious competition” in the market, Costello said.

A “good chunk” of the land Carnegie is purchasing is in a conservation easement. The company plans to trade a 1.2-acre area in the middle of the site for a 6-acre parcel along Lockwood to help create a permanent 900-foot buffer between the commercial property and the residential land to the north, Krista Beniston, director of zoning and development for the township.

“So it’s a pretty good-sized buffer,” she remarked.

Following the June 5 hearing, a final commission meeting on the application is scheduled for June 11.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.