Wegmans, a supermarket chain based in Rochester, N.Y., is coming to Chapel Hill but will open later and be smaller than originally anticipated.
The store, originally expected to be 130,000 square feet, will be 99,000 square feet and will open in the spring or summer of 2020 instead of the fall of 2019.
Wegmans will replace Performance Automall, between U.S. 15-501 and Old Durham Road.
The $30 million project will operate with performance-based incentives, meaning Orange County and Chapel Hill officials will each offer Wegmans $2 million if it meets a specific set of conditions over the course of five years after it opens.
Wegmans will have to have $18.1 million in real property and $8 million in personal property, earn $83 million in retail sales and maintain 185 full-time and 413 part-time jobs.
Valerie Fox, Wegmans’ spokesperson, said the downsize is an attempt to reduce the company’s ecological footprint.
"We’re always going for approval for what would be a maximum store size, but really our store design has evolved in recent years," Fox said. "So we’re now building a smaller footprint that has enough space for all of the bells and whistles and departments that we’re known for, but can still provide the same customer experience that a larger store would."
Fox said the delay was caused when permitting took longer than it did with other locations. She said since Wegmans typically only opens two or three stores a year, officials decided to postpone the Chapel Hill opening and focus on the opening of other stores.
The addition of Wegmans is also expected to add over 3,200 vehicles to surrounding roads daily, but the N.C. Department of Transportation District Engineer Chuck Edwards said Wegmans is working to mitigate the anticipated traffic impact.
