Meijer starts building new store in Alliance, eyes 2024 open

Benjamin Duer, The Repository
·2 min read
Meijer has started work on a 160,000-square-foot store in Alliance, as seen here on July 12, 2023. The retailer will anchor a new retail plaza where the old Carnation City Mall stood. The mall closed in 2022 and was demolished.
Meijer has started work on a 160,000-square-foot store in Alliance, as seen here on July 12, 2023. The retailer will anchor a new retail plaza where the old Carnation City Mall stood. The mall closed in 2022 and was demolished.

ALLIANCE − Construction of a new Meijer store has begun.

This one, in Alliance, will be a standalone, 160,000-square-foot store to anchor a new retail plaza at 2500 W. State St., the site of the former Carnation City Mall.

The mall − which closed in August 2022 − has been demolished.

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Erin Cataldo, a Meijer spokeswoman, said construction the supercenter store is on schedule and could open by mid- to late 2024.

Rockford Construction, the primary contractor for most Meijer stores in the Midwest, is handling the build, Cataldo said in an email. Current work on the property includes grading the site and installing stormwater lines, she said.

Contrary to early site plans, a gas station is not expected to be part of the project.

Meijer store.

"We’re excited about joining the Alliance community as we expand into Northeast Ohio," Cataldo said.

'The city is pleased with the progress.'

The old mall opened in 1983, but it had fallen on hard times.

In 2022, Fairmount Properties, based in Orange Village, bought and closed the mall to redevelop the property into a new 300,000-square-foot retail plaza with a Meijer store. Demolition started in December, and completion by March has given way to construction.

The former Carnation City Mall property in Alliance, as shown here on May 9, 2023, will become a new retail plaza anchored by Meijer. The superstore chain is expecting to open by mid- to late-2024.
The former Carnation City Mall property in Alliance, as shown here on May 9, 2023, will become a new retail plaza anchored by Meijer. The superstore chain is expecting to open by mid- to late-2024.

In April, Meijer bought its parcel from Fairmount for $5.18 million. Fairmount owns the rest.

The project has the city's support.

"The city is pleased with the progress Meijer is making on the former Carnation Mall site," said Joe Mazzola, the city's director of planning and development. "The vision is taking shape."

Dunham's Sports, a former mall tenant, reopened in a different location on the property in March. It is the only other confirmed retailer for the new plaza. No others have been announced.

Mazzola said city officials have not been made aware of any additional retailers.

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @bduerREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Meijer starts building new store at former mall site in Alliance