by Carla Knapp
The business growth continues on Logansport’s east side as ALDI Foods will soon open a new store on East Market Street.
Skip Kuker, president of the Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation, said he had been working with the company for roughly nine months and was instrumental in the company’s decision.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said. “This one was a very easy project. They were easy to work with. They asked the questions, and we gave the right answers.”
Kuker said he showed company representatives three different properties and they chose 8 acres on the south side of Market Street at its intersection with Yorktown Road. The German-based company, the third largest grocer in the world, will build a 17,000 square foot store to replace its much smaller facility in the Logansport Mall Shopping Center.
ALDI has more than 850 stores in the United States, and as the company leases its current facility, the purchase of this new property should create a new commitment to the community, Kuker said.
“They offer a shopping experience that a lot of people enjoy and are attracted to,” he said. “They’re also rehabilitating the area, and that will increase the assessed value in that area.”
Kuker said site plans were still in the works, but he said land preparation and structure removal could begin in the coming months. Kuker said the deal was brokered without the offer of any incentives.
The addition of ALDI Foods is the most recent in a string of businesses coming to the east side of town. Both the Holiday Inn Express and the combined Long John Silver’s/Kentucky Fried Chicken will be opening soon and JDF Investments recently signed leases for Spa Nails 5 as well as Noble Roman’s and Tuscano’s Subs for the new Logansport Commons complex
“When people come through that thoroughfare, they’ll see a brand new Holiday Inn Express, they’ll see a brand new Home Depot ... that’s growth,” said Kuker. “This is just one more small piece of growth.”
Carla Knapp can be contacted at (574) 732-5150 or via e-mail at carla.knapp@pharostribune.com
