Meijer submits initial plan for new location in Cranberry Township
A day after Meijer announced it had begun purchasing properties in Western Pennsylvania for future expansion, the Michigan-based grocery store chain formally submitted plans for a new location in Cranberry Township.
Meijer hopes to construct a 159,000-square-foot supercenter in the northeast corner of Route 228 and Franklin Road near North Catholic High School.
Meijer currently operates more than 500 locations in six states — Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin — and the new store would mark one of the chain’s first ventures into Pennsylvania.
Those plans also include a Meijer Express, the brand’s convenience store and gas station, which offers grab-and-go food, snacks, drinks and other essentials.
However, the businesses are only a portion of what is being proposed at the site, according to Ron Henshaw, Cranberry Township’s director of planning and development services.
Cranberry’s Planning Commission on Monday was presented with renderings for a new development, Henderson Crossing, that will bring several other businesses to the area.
According to Henshaw, the development also will feature a coffee shop with a drive-through window, a fast food establishment and a full-service restaurant. It’s unclear as of now which businesses would be in line to occupy those parcels.
The final component is a planned residential development that will provide an undisclosed amount of multifamily units.
“All of these things are in the master plan, and that’s what was shown Monday night,” Henshaw added.
Following the pre-application conference and official submission, company representatives are on track to speak at the planning commission’s next meeting Oct. 27.
One of the next steps will be to smooth out other land development details, Henshaw said. That will include a subdivision agreement between the developers and North Catholic that will require approval from the township.
“One of the most notable things is that it’s a very high point in the township altitude-wise,” Henshaw said of the proposed land. “There’s a lot of grading work that has to happen with it.”
Meijer officials told the planning commission it will take at least a year to secure the necessary development permits, leaving an unclear timeline for the store’s opening.
In addition to Meijer, another chain, Wegmans, plans to open a store in the area in 2027. Last month, the popular Rochester, N.Y.-based grocery chain received final clearances to begin construction of a 115,000-square-foot store along Cool Springs Drive near the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
