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Stores, eateries may be on way

A new development and shopping plaza is proposed on New Castle Road near its intersection with the Route 422 cloverleaf.
Parking space issue approved

BUTLER TWP — Dick’s Sporting Goods, Moe’s Southwest Grille, Mattress Firm and a Bob Evans restaurant are the tenants named for a new development on New Castle Road near its intersection with the Route 422 cloverleaf.

Representatives of United Growth, a California-based developer, Wednesday evening appeared before the Butler Township Zoning Hearing Board to seek permission to design the development with 277 parking spaces, which is less than 407 the township rules would require. The parking request was approved.

If the proposal meets with approval at all township levels, which still would include the planning commission and the township commissioners, construction would begin just after the new year and be complete by next fall, said Zeden Jones, vice president of United Growth.

The plan would include 61,000 square feet of leased retail space divided into three buildings: a stand alone 50,000-square-foot structure for Dick’s, a standalone 4,274-square-foot structure for Bob Evans and a 6,000-square-foot building shared by Mattress Firm and Moe’s, according to Jones.

The proposal would be on three parcels totaling 5.8 acres at 360 New Castle Road. Currently owned by Elsie Weigle, Edward Dunmire and Jack Myers, the property includes a single-family house and a garage that would be demolished to make way for the stores.

One nearby resident, Crawford Bolten, attended the meeting armed with questions about the plan, such as how traffic would enter and exit the proposal which fronts New Castle Road but would include a secondary entrance at Hindman Road.

“It’s already very dangerous there,” he said.

Bolten wanted to know what, if any, landscaping would be between the stores and his neighborhood on Hindman Road.

“I’ve heard a lot of rumors,” he said.

Township officials told Bolten the purpose of Wednesday’s meeting was only to consider the parking space issue. However, United Growth is expected to give a full description of its proposal at a planning commission meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 6 at the township municipal building.

Moe’s, which describes itself on the Internet as “fast casual” southwestern food, has a restaurant in Cranberry Township. Similarly, a Bob Evans is in Warrendale.

There’s a Dick’s Sporting Goods four miles away in the Clearview Mall and the nearest Mattress Firm is less than a half-mile away in the Butler Commons on New Castle Road.

Outside of the official discussion, Jones said he does not handle the leasing portion of proposals, and other than naming the proposed tenants, he could not answer questions about other aspects of the project.

Representatives from the companies involved did not return telephone messages.

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