By KEVIN NEVERS

After unsuccessful efforts to expand its grocery at 801 Broadway in Chesterton, WiseWay Foods has announced plans to build a new store on the northeast corner of C.R. 1100N and Ind. 49.

WiseWay President Don Weiss told the Chesterton Tribune today that he expects construction to begin this season and to be completed in the first half of 2003.

The new 60,000 square-foot store will be approximately three times the size of the current one, Weiss said, and “nearly identical” to a facility recently built at 93rd Ave. and Taft Street in Merrillville. It will feature expanded meat and produce sections, a full bakery and delicatessen, with seafood, floral, natural-food, and general-merchandise offerings.

Weiss said that the new store will employ around 140 people, 55 more than employed at the Broadway location.

WiseWay has long looked to expand the current store on Broadway—the site of the old Costas Foods—but “it just couldn’t be worked out,” he said.

Chesterton Project Manager Janet Cypra, who was involved in efforts to facilitate an expansion of the current store, said that WiseWay was never able to acquire enough adjacent property to make that project worthwhile. “It was my understanding that in order to make it feasible to expand they would have needed the whole square block.”

“I personally would have preferred to see WiseWay remain at the current location in an expanded form,” Cypra added, “but I’m very glad that they made the decision to stay in Chesterton and invest in a larger store.”

The new site, she noted, “is an excellent location for them” and a “smart long-term strategic decision,” given the rapid residential development now taking place in Chesterton east of Ind. 49. The Enclave Apartments and Morgan’s Corner—part of the Second Addition to Coffee Creek Center—will both be within easy reach of the grocery via Dickinson Road, for example. And, she noted as well, residents on the west side of Ind. 49 should be able to reach the grocery without ever having to cross the Bypass, simply by using Rail Road.

“We think that the site we’ve selected has excellent access from both sides of Ind. 49 off of C.R. 1100N,” Weiss said.

For his part Police Chief George Nelson observed that the increase in traffic which is almost certainly to result at the intersection of C.R. 1100N and Ind. 49 could finally produce the warrant necessary for left-turn signals to be installed for motorists east- and westbound on C.R. 1100N. “I’m hoping immensely that it will,” he said. “And also maybe the town can make some improvements to that roadway, such as widening C.R. 1100N from the bridge east to Ind. 49.”

The LaPorte District of the Indiana Department of Transportation has long rejected the town’s requests for the installation of turn signals at that intersection, on the grounds that not enough vehicles actually turn left onto Ind. 49 from C.R. 1100N.

The approximately eight-acre parcel, located west of Pioneer Trail, is zoned B-3, and Weiss said that he doesn’t intend to build the new store as a planned unit development. He did say that construction of the grocery won’t require the whole of the eight acres and that no decision has yet been made with respect to the disposition of the balance of the property: whether to develop it, sell it, or leave it vacant.

Chesterton department heads will have to review the site plan for the new store, Planning Director Steve Yagelski remarked, but to date WiseWay hasn’t submitted one.

Residents accustomed to walking to the Broadway location, on the other hand, or without access to vehicles may find the new store something of an inconvience, Cypra remarked. For that reason “we’ll be talking to other grocery chains about the possibility of opening a smaller store at the Broadway location,” she said. “There’s definitely going to be a market on the west side of town for staples and food items and it’s just a question of who’s going to fill it.”

“I’m extremely pleased with what WiseWay is doing,” Cypra said, “but we don’t want to forget about the people in west Chesterton, the elderly or those who don’t drive.”

Posted 5/22/2002