City, Neighbors Have Big Problems With Drug Mart Progress

There were two-dozen violations of the city’s building code found at the house adjacent to the new drug store’s property on Grace Avenue.

As part of the conditional use permit for the new Discount Drug Mart, the drugstore chain agreed to renovate the home at 1425 Grace Avenue, instead of demolishing it. However, neighbors, city officials and the city’s planning commission aren’t satisfied with the progress.  Last month, the city’s building department inspected the home — commonly referred to as “the white house” — and found 24 code violations, ranging from plumbing to general exterior maintenance issues. The planning commission revisited Drug Mart’s conditional use permit on Thursday night. Mary Louise Madigan, the city’s Ward 4 councilwoman, shared her concerns on behalf of the neighbors. “This isn’t that difficult,” she said, referring to the renovation that the company …

•  23 Comments
• Photos (2)

Residents Fed Up With Drug Mart, Family Dollar Construction

Grace Avenue neighbor shares her thoughts on the progress of the new development.

Construction vehicles; increased traffic; and noise from construction. These are just a few of the concerns of several neighbors of the Discount Drug Mart and Family Dollar construction projects on Detroit Avenue. Although the frames and walls are up, the projects — both expected to be finished by June — aren’t moving along quickly enough for residents on nearby Grace and Cohasett avenues. Signs were recently posted on both streets prohibiting construction vehicles from driving on them. Neighbors reached out to Lakewood City Hall for help. Dru Siley, the city’s director of planning and development, said he’s working with neighbors to address some of the concerns. Marie-France Schreiber, who lives three doors north of the Family Dollar site…

•  31 Comments
• Photos (6)

ian king

5:29 pm on Tuesday, April 30, 2013

RIGHT ON MARK! The truth hurts, but ultimately will set us free! (by free, i mean, free to move away from 117th, away from detroit ave! LOL)   more ›

LOOK: New Buildings Taking Shape on Detroit Avenue

The support beams for the future homes of Discount Drug Mart and Family Dollar are now up.

A couple of new buildings located next to each other are changing the landscape of a city blocks on Detroit Avenue, once home to the Ganley Auto Group. Despite the cold, construction crews have made progress on the future homes of Discount Drug Mart and Family Dollar. The Discount Drug Mart is slightly ahead of its neighbor across Grace Avenue. That project has been a contentious one among neighbors, however Grace Avenue residents won a small victory last week when the city's architectural board of review denied a request for the store to build illuminated signs on that side of the property. Utility issues have held up the progress of the Family Dollar project has been slightly held up by utility issues. Construction of the 9,000-sqaure-…

•  6 Comments
• Photos (3)

LOOK: Buildings to Make Way for New Development on Detroit Avenue

Former grocery store torn down to make way for a new GetGo gas station; site of former Ganley dealership and apartment demolished for a new Discount Drug Mart.

Dust from a few demolished buildings blew down Detroit Avenue on Thursday. All that remained of the three structures, all within a few blocks of each other, were piles of rubble. The former grocery store at Bunts Road and Detroit Avenue was torn down to make way for a new GetGo gas station. The former Ganley dealership at Detroit and Grace avenues — along with the 11-unit apartment building just south of it — was just a pile of bricks and twisted metal by the end of Thursday afternoon. Those buildings are making way for a new Discount Drug Mart.  A work crew at the site told Lakewood Patch that the entire demolition/removal process could take as long as 30 days, before new construction can begin.

•  2 Comments
• Photos (7)
• Videos (2)

WATCH: Demolition of the Ganley Building Under Way

It’s not the only demolition project in the city right now, as crews began tearing down the former grocery store at Bunts Road and Detroit Avenue on Monday.

• Videos (1)

PizzaBOGO Moving Into Lakewood Plaza

The regional gourmet pizza chain inks lease agreement with the owners of the property.

Just days after Quaker Steak and Lube opened its doors in the renovated Lakewood Plaza, the company that owns the building announced that there’s going to be another new tenant. PizzaBOGO, a gourmet pizza chain based out of Hudson, is set to take the 2,000-square-foot space most-recently occupied by the Four Seasons Tanning salon. Robert Kopis, the co-owner of pizzaBOGO, said he’s not sure when the shop might open, but added that it’s “definitely happening.”  “There’s a lot of competition in the area, and great pizza shops like Angelo’s, but we’re a different kind of pizza shop,” he said. A review on Cleveland Heights Patch noted that the pizza shop had 35 toppings, “which you can pile on individually. In addition to the expected …

•  20 Comments
• Photos (2)

Kelly Rae Griffith

5:43 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012

The tacos are amazing!   more ›

Value World to Move Into Vacated Drug Mart

As soon as construction of the new Discount Drug Mart at the former Ganley Auto dealership, the second-hand chain store is expected to take over.

Value World, a second-hand clothing store with operations in three states, is coming to Lakewood. But first, the Discount Drug Mart at 11900 Detroit Avenue must complete its move a few blocks west, to the property of the former Ganley auto dealership at the corner of Cohassett and Detroit avenues.  “They’re moving in when we vacate that store,” said Tim Moran, the construction and development manager for Discount Drug Mart. “My goal is May of 2013.” Value World's Cleveland location, near W. 107th Street and Lorain Avenue, is expected to close its doors. A real estate transaction has not yet been made, however earlier this year, Lakewood City Council OK’d a measure that paved the way for Discount Drug Mart to take control of a portion of …

•  83 Comments
• Photos (1)

New Design Plans for New Drug Mart Approved

Demolition of the existing Ganley structure and an adjacent apartment building expected to begin by the end of the month.

There have been more than 40 design modifications to the proposed new Discount Drug Mart at the site of the former Ganley Auto Dealership on Detroit Avenue. On Thursday, after months of back-and-forth, the city’s architectural board of review gave its stamp of approval on the final proposal. Demolition of the existing Ganley structure and an adjacent apartment building is expected to begin by the end of the month. Construction of the new $5 million Drug Mart would begin shortly afterward. Among the recommendations by the architectural board of review, the company included 200 plants into the landscaping plans; changed the flow of the truck traffic; and added different types of windows. Also, the proposed design for an angled entrance at …

•  15 Comments
• Photos (2)

New Discount Drug Mart Approved on Detroit Avenue

The meeting lasted nearly five hours, but the drug store chain was granted its appeal, and then the new proposal was approved.

After getting rejected last month, new plans for a Discount Drug Mart on Detroit Avenue were submitted to the Lakewood Planning Commission for a rehearing. After the rehearing was granted Thursday, the new plans were approved after a nearly five-hour marathon meeting at city hall. With the commission’s OK, the drug store chain will demolish the apartment building that it owns adjacent to the property, but the space won't be used for parking, according to the revised proposal. The new plan is scaled down to 72 parking spaces — down from 94 originally proposed.  In addition, Drug Mart pulled its request to take the 13.5 feet from the neighboring home at 1425 Grace Avenue, but the company will take a portion of the northwest corner of that …

•  46 Comments
• Photos (1)

Drug Mart Appeals Planning Commission Decision

Drug store chain presents new plans to the city.

Discount Drug Mart is coming back to the Lakewood Planning Commission on Aug. 2 with revised plans after being denied earlier this month. The appeal also requests that the commission review news plans submitted to the city. The drug store chain still seeks to demolish the apartment building that it owns adjacent to the property, but the space wouldn’t be used for parking, according to the revised proposal. The new plan is scaled down to 72 parking spaces — down from 94 originally proposed.  In addition, Drug Mart is no longer asking to take the 13.5 feet from the neighboring home at 1425 Grace Avenue, but the company would still like to take a portion of the northwest corner of that property.  The plan also includes a 15-feet-wide sidewalk…

•  13 Comments
• Photos (1)
• Documents (3)

ian king

2:13 am on Thursday, July 26, 2012

hi onitme - totally agree, but in these horrific economic times and with lakewood losing population each year, options are very very limited for being selective about businesses that actually want to be located anywhere in lakewood. there are soooo many empty lots, storefront, all over lakewood, but particularly here on the east side. and it seems the only businesses that want to come into …   more ›