Council approves zone change for grocery store

By David Skolnick | January 6, 2011 at 12:06a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A 17,000-square-foot grocery store on the city’s South Side took a key step toward becoming a reality with city council approving a zone change for the supermarket to be built.

City council voted 7-0 Wednesday to change the location’s zone classification from institutional to general business.

Without the zone change, the store couldn’t be built.

The proposed store in the Fosterville neighborhood would be bounded by West Princeton, Glenwood and West Indianola avenues.

The property is the location of Fosterville Park and the former Cleveland School, which has been demolished.

“We need a store badly for that area,” said Paul Drennen, D-5th, the councilman for that neighborhood.

That area has been without a full-service grocery store for several years, he said.

Primax Properties, a Charlotte-based real-estate investment firm, requests the change to build the grocery store.

“They are looking to move this expeditiously,” said Mayor Jay Williams. “They’re ready to go. Everything is still a go on this site for the company. Every indication is they’re eager to move forward.”

Primax officials have not returned numerous telephone calls from The Vindicator seeking comment.

City officials say they have a confidentiality agreement with Primax restricting them from identifying the store at this point.

But the company’s website as well as the website of its sister company, Primax Construction Inc., list Food Lion as one of their major retail clients.

Food Lion has no grocery stores in Ohio but has more than 1,200 in 11 other states.