Why is West Erie Plaza property once owned by German grocer Lidl going to be demolished?

Jim Martin, Erie Times-News
·3 min read
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Even before the German grocery giant Lidl opened its first U.S. store in 2017, the company had its eyes on Erie.

As early as 2015, Lidl had been working to develop a store on Route 99, south of Interchange Road, Jack Munch, a real estate developer with Baldwin Brothers Inc., said in a 2018 interview.

That plan was ultimately scuttled over zoning concerns. But Lidl, known for its low prices, in-store bakeries, fresh produce and bag-your-own groceries culture, also had another Erie location in mind.

Plans for an Erie store took a big step forward in September of 2017 when Lidl US paid $2.3 million to purchase a 35,000-square foot space from VCG Properties LLC, which owns the West Erie Erie Plaza.

While VCG Properties maintained ownership of the rest of the plaza, Lidl became the owner of a vacant building at the southwestern end of the plaza that had previously been home to Good Cents, a Giant Eagle subsidiary.

Shown here in this 2018 file photo is a building adjacent to the West Erie Plaza. The building, which had been owned by Lidl USA, has been sold to an entity owned by Baldwin Brothers Real Estate.
Shown here in this 2018 file photo is a building adjacent to the West Erie Plaza. The building, which had been owned by Lidl USA, has been sold to an entity owned by Baldwin Brothers Real Estate.

Two years later, in 2018, the building remained empty and unused and there were hints that Erie might not be part of the company's expansion plans.

"It is early along in our expansion into Pennsylvania and we are not addressing eachindividual site at this time," Chandler Ebeier, a spokesman for Lidl, said at the time. "However, we do look forward to opening our first stores in Pennsylvania."

That's already taken place. In fact, the company has 13 Pennsylvania stores, according to ScrapeHero, a data company. Lidl is well regarded as a competitor to Aldi, another German-owned chain that operates more than 2,300 stores in the United States.

But Lidl, which has more than 12,000 stores worldwide, including 181 in the United States, has grown more slowly in this country than some had expected.

In a 2019 report, Forbes concluded: "One has to be surprised that new store opening activity is relatively slow by this very big food retailer."

According to The Grocer, an online industry publication, Lidl announced in February that it planned to cut in half its plans to open 50 new U.S. stores this year to focus on expanding its warehouse capacity.

No final act for West Erie Plaza building

Meanwhile, the prospects of a Lidl store, at least one in Millcreek Township at the West Erie Plaza, seems to be fading.

The company, which originally paid $2.3 million for the plaza store building, recently sold the structure to an entity controlled by Erie-based Baldwin Brothers Inc. for $1.325 million, nearly $1 million less than Lidl paid for the property.

Matthew Puz, zoning and development officer for Millcreek Township, said a demolition permit was issued Monday that will allow the building to be demolished except for the wall it shares with the West Erie Plaza.

Jack Munch, of Baldwin Brothers, referred questions about the property to Gregory Baldwin, who did not respond to requests for comment.

There's been no word on the company's plans for the property.

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Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Baldwin Brothers to demolish former Lidl property in West Erie Plaza