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Germantown is slated to become the prize winner in the county to land super grocery store company Wegmans, if all goes as planned for the mixed-use project Minkoff Development Corp. has in mind for its Seneca Meadows property.
Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale confirmed that the grocer, based in Rochester, N.Y., signed a letter of intent with Minkoff to place one of its stores in the project, planned for the intersection of Seneca Meadows Parkway and Observation Drive.
Natale said plans call for a store of 120,000 to 150,000 square feet, with 500 to 600 employees, full and part-time. The Germantown store is part of Wegmans' expansion plans in the mid-Atlantic. The company built a store in Sterling, Va., a few years ago and then its first Maryland store in Hunt Valley. Construction began last year on a Wegmans that will be one of the anchors for the Woodmore Town Centre development in Landover, with another one planned to open this year in Anne Arundel County.
Andy Chod, spokesman for Minkoff, based in Germantown, confirmed the Wegmans letter of intent, and that the mixed use project is planned for the north end of the company's Seneca Meadows Corporate Center property. He said details of the overall development "are still up in the air."
"Germantown is still going through its master plan review" and that the total square footage of the project "depends on how much density we would get there … and it depends on the market," he said.
Natale said, "We have no idea of a time frame [for breaking ground or building the Wegmans] and won't for some time. We still need to sign a lease, and approvals are needed."
Wegmans is considered one of the industry's more innovative and customer friendly grocers. When it was confirmed it was coming to Prince George's County, Jeffrey W. Metzger, publisher of Food World, a Columbia trade publication, said in a Gazette interview that Wegmans' arrival signals an ‘‘economic boon" for Prince George's.
At the time of the groundbreaking for the Wegmans in Landover last year, Wegmans officials indicated they were looking at Montgomery County for a site, but would not reveal specific locations they had in mind.