Plans are shaping up for a new Winn-Dixie anchored shopping center in Mid-City that will erase a prominent pocket of blight and interact with the proposed Lafitte Greenway bicycle corridor.
Stirling Properties hopes to break ground in September on the $25 million to $35 million Mid-City Market at the site of the former Harry's Ace Hardware building on 301 N. Carrollton Ave. and the Bohn Ford building at 401 N. Carrollton Ave. Both properties are under contract.
"We're working through the process for permitting, finance and design," said Townsend Underhill, vice president of development for Stirling.
Stirling has signed a lease with Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. for a 53,000-square foot grocery, Underhill said. The Mid-City location will be modeled after the Winn-Dixie store on Highway 21 in Covington, which opened in February 2010 as a national prototype for the Jacksonville, Fla., company.
That store has stained concrete floors, high ceilings, soft lighting and a 30-foot open-air covered entryway with produce displayed farmers market-style in open boxes. The store also has a yogurt bar, olive bar, salad bar, wing bar, and a seafood case that's about twice the size of a regular store, as well as nuts and dried fruit sold by the pound.
The regional vice president for Winn-Dixie in the New Orleans area was traveling and couldn't be reached for comment about the plans.
The grocery store will be set at the back of the Bohn Ford site, and an additional 55,000 square feet of retail space will dot the rest of the property. Underhill said that Stirling is negotiating with about a dozen additional retailers, but no other leases have been signed.
The latest version of the site plan names Office Depot, Petco, Verizon, Felipe's burrito, Pinkberry frozen yogurt, Five Guys burgers and fries, and Pei Wei Asian diner as possibilities.
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Winn-Dixie will anchor new Mid-City shopping complex
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