Can anybody point me to any grocery stores in an urban setting on a corner lot? About 2 stories with 20,000 square feet (approx. 10,000 sq. ft. on each floor). I'm especially interested in how parking can be screened so it doesn't dominate the lot and how large, long walls are treated to provide some sort of articulation and visual interest.
I don't know if you could make this work economically. A large portion of both floors footprints would be needed to move stock and people from one floor to the other. Conveyences would be needed for shipping as well as for carts. How much space do you have for parking? It may make more sense to put the parking under or over a single floor layout.
We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes - Fr Gabriel Richard 1805
Check this one out - Urban Dominick's at Fullerton and Sheffield in Chicago's LIncoln Park neighborhood.
Measures from Google Earth shows that the each of the store's two floors are about 10,000 SF. The parking is available in the attached parking garage (I think) to the south on Sheffield. This is a very nice store and gets a ton of foot traffic. Additionally, its the bottom of a mixed use retail/residential building right next to a rapid transit stop.
Hopefull, this is what you're looking for.
I'm sorry. Is my bias showing?
There's several examples of this within the City of Chicago...In addition to the one Mendelman there's one (albiet larger at about 40K sq. ft.) there's a Jewel Supermarket at the southeast corner of Wabash & Roosevelt in the South Loop neighborhood.
Google Earth "Wabash & Roosevelt, Chicago" and you'll get a good overhead view. Parking lot screening is provided by landscaping and two outlot buildings housing a Starbucks and a Dry Cleaners.
@ DetroitPlanner - They way they have it proposed in the preliminary plans, is having the sales area of about 9,000 sqaure feet on the first floor and 9,000 square feet on the second floor (8,200 storage and 800 office) and all surface level parking. I'm encouraging them to go underground or on the roof with parking. But it seems like costs are prohibiting them from doing that.
@mendelman - Thanks for the example. Except they don't have the luxury of having a lot to build a parking structure on. I think the best way to screen parking is to go completely behind the building since they have alley access, or to go underground or on the roof.
@ der Beb - That parking doesn't really looked screened by landscaping. I can see a row of parking right up against the street. We want this to have an active street fron for the whole length of the site.
Seattle examples: there's a Safeway...can''t remember the neighborhood, but near the arena where the Storm play to the north. There's a Trader Joe's in U District. There's a Whole Paycheck in...think its Ballard. Very expensive proposition.Originally posted by AugieDog
I'm sorry. Is my bias showing?
I spent a few more hours than I would have liked researching this once when a certain nationally branded supermarket wanted the suburban style design with a sea of parking between it and the road. I have a folder of nearly 20 images. My favorite is probably the WholeFoods in University Heights Ohio. It has a combination of on-lot parking and rooftop.
I'd encourage anyone interested in locating parking to the rear of buildings and landscaping the heck out of it to check out Freeport, ME. There you will find a wide range of building sizes, beautiful landscaping (even year round). The area sufficiently handles mass volumes of people while maintaining a pedestrian friendly environment. I have some personal photos which highlight this, but the aerial views on google and bing show it just as well. I'll have to check and see if street-view is available there, but I imagine it is.
Last edited by ThePinkPlanner; 30 Mar 2011 at 11:29 AM. Reason: Additional information.
@ Mendelman- Thanks again for the example. But that is similar to what they have proposed and what I am not looking for. The surface level parking lot kills the rest of the block in a pedestrian sense.
There's a Harris Teeter in Nashville that sounds similar to what you're looking at, though probably a bigger footprint. It's built up to the main thoroughfare, but the neighborhood street does have some exposed (buffered) parking.
Here's a quick search for various groceries we have on sitephocus.com.
Grocery Search
BTW, accounts on sitephocus are free to view larger images and can be downloaded through credits or subscription.
www.sitephocus.com ...get the picture
Of course, right under my nose, one more idea.
We had an applicant who built a 2 story (1 with mezzanine of offices really) in an area that was to be a new road into our city core, thereby becoming a corner lot. We struggled greatly with getting them away from the traditional supermarket model. In the end, we brought the building as close to the road as possible, required a useable and prominent entrance on the busier street, and asked for as much glass as possible. Glass in grocery stores can be difficult to arrange given the inside layout, so we settled on what has since become a very popular cooking classroom. It is a beautiful space and constantly used and brings people to the street-front.
To address the long brick walls: we required a piece of public art mounted on the wall, streetside. I'll see if I can get a picture up here. It turned out pretty nice.
To address the parking: we held a public art design competition. The corner on the street and newly created street serves as home to a nice bit of semi-public art (the costs were split between the property owner and city). It is a mix of landscaping and a curvilinear art piece and tower. I wish I could find an ortho to show the entire site, but the project is only a few years old and nothing I can find shows it completed.
GatewayArt
@ Pink Planner - Do you have any site plans you can send me? I'll give you my work email address if you do. I would appreciate it.
There's a grocery store called "Costentino's" right in the middle of downtown Kansas City. I'm not sure what the sq. footage is but it definitely fits the bill as an urban grocery store.
Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Augie, check out the Whole Foods in Hillcrest (San Diego) at the corner of 7th and University. Minimal surface parking in the back with most of the parking located on the roof. It has lots of windows facing out onto University and 7th to cut down on the dead space and blank walls along the active pedestrian areas.
I found a few more photos. I will send a site plan direct to your email.
@Nicktsicks - Thanks. I'm going to go check that one out this weekend. My boss shops there and has been telling me about it.
Parking solutions for an urban grocery store
Quote
