A representative of the Outlets Park City owner told members of the Synderville Basin Planning Commission on Tuesday that a Harmons grocery store at the mall would be an amenity for the community — and a boost to other grocers in the area.
“Competition is going to benefit everybody in this room,” said Adam Greenebaum, vice president of asset management with Singerman Real Estate (SRE), a Chicago investment firm. “It causes everyone to step up their game, and I think that Harmons wouldn’t be coming in here if they didn’t think they could do the volume here.”
A proposal to tear down about 72,000 square feet of existing retail space at the Kimball Junction outlet mall, 6699 N. Landmark Drive, and redevelop that footage with a standalone Harmons is pending before the commission. The project would require exemptions from square-foot and height limits.
A work session was held on Tuesday to give commissioners an update on suggested improvements to the project based on their input at a September meeting. The Planning Commission makes recommendations on whether to approve development proposals to the Summit County Council, which is the final authority on land use requests.
Outlets Park City — formerly known as The Tanger Outlets at Park City and The Factory Stores @ Park City — was built in 1991 and eventually expanded to nearly 324,000 square feet. An application to redevelop a portion of the mall was submitted in September 2021.
The proposal calls for a 59,906-square-foot main floor and a 12,138-square-foot mezzanine that has second-floor access to the grocery. The team proposing the project includes Chicago-based ownership group SRE Ontario and Bob Harmon, chairman of the grocery chain, which has 20 stores, all in Utah.
Retail sales spaces larger than 60,000 square feet are prohibited in all zones under provisions in the Synderville Basin Development Code. For the 72,000-square-foot grocery to be built, the commission would have to find that it provides substantial tangible benefits to the public that would significantly outweigh those that would be derived from a development built within the size limits.
At a proposed height of nearly 42 feet, the grocery also would need an exemption from the code’s typical maximum of 32 feet.
SRE Ontario says only the ground floor, which is less than 60,000 square feet, should be included in the footage because they consider the mezzanine level — which would have a restaurant, seating and offices — to be more of a gathering place, according to a Summit County Planning Department staff report. The report, however, says the code includes mezzanines in the definition of floor area and it does count.
A question raised at the work session was whether another grocery store is needed in the area when shoppers already can get their groceries at a Fresh Market, Smith’s, Walmart and Whole Foods.
Justin Keys, an attorney who represents owner and applicant SRE Ontario, said Harmon described at their first meeting with the county why the grocery would be a good fit at Outlets Park City, which is in the town center zone.
According to Keys, the grocer said, “There’s a synergy in having grocery stores near each other. It’s no difference than McDonald’s always coming in across the street from Burger King. They don’t always have the same products.”
“There are not that many town center zones in Summit County,” Keys said. “This happens to be one of them. So it’s the right location for this type of use under our code. The reality is that’s the hub where grocery stores make the most sense.”
The new Harmons store is expected to have 75 full-time and 70 part-time employees.
Keys noted the owner has no obligation to build workforce housing but is proposing to construct 26 affordable unit equivalents on the property. An AUE is defined as a two-bedroom unit with 900 square feet of net livable space. Multiple smaller units together can constitute one AUE.
Under the proposal, the units would be substantially complete within 30 months of receiving a certificate of occupancy for the grocery story, Keys said.
New improvements that have been proposed since the September meeting include better pedestrian and bicycle connections to the neighborhood and existing trail systems; multiple bicycle and e-bike parking areas; a dedicated public transit lane; electric vehicle parking and charging areas; a pocket park; and more landscape plantings throughout the parking lots.
The revised proposal also includes mounting 104 solar panels on the roof, which will provide about 2% to 3% of the building’s yearly energy use. The report suggests the applicant further offset use through voluntary renewable energy programs.
A field of skylights also are planned for the roof to bring natural light into the grocery during the day.
Planning Commissioner Joel Fine said he’s concerned about the store causing an increase in traffic in Kimball Junction but is fine otherwise with the project. Commissioner Chris Conabee said people are shopping all over the county for food and putting the grocery store close to existing housing developments lessens traffic.
Commissioner DJ Hubler said grocery stores are one of the best building types for electrification and said a community benefit “is a green building in a ski town that is going to be completely adversely affected by climate change.”
“It’s raining outside when it should be snowing, for example,” said Hubler, who challenged the redevelopment team to make the Harmon’s all-electric.
Discussions about the project will continue and the proposal will return to the Planning Commission at a future meeting.