Plans outline new Palmer Carrs store

PALMER — While it may not be a new option for grocery shoppers here, a planned development could reshape the retail map of Palmer.

According to city officials, Carrs/Safeway is in preliminary talks with the city and community about building a new store across the Palmer-Wasilla Highway from its existing location.

Sandra Garley, community development director for Palmer, said the company has not filed a building permit yet. But Carrs/Safeway has owned the 8.6 acres between Ellen Street and Daron Drive for years.

The company has now produced sketches of a potential 57,000-square-foot grocery store and attached Oaken Keg liquor store. The company is also looking to build a Carrs/Safeway gas station on the site, as well as an additional 5,000-square-foot building to rent to another retailer, Garley said.

The property would have direct access to the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, she said. The driveway would be across from the driveway to Pioneer Plaza, the existing location of Carrs/Safeway.

“There would be a new intersection kind of in the middle of that block.” she said.

Garley said a traffic analysis the company performed indicates a stop light would be needed to control traffic at this new intersection. If a stop light did go up, that’s something Carrs/Safeway would have to pay for, she said.

Nothing formal has come before the city council or planning and zoning commission, Garley said. Carrs/Safeway will hold meetings to gauge the community’s support of the plan.

“They will be visiting with members of the public, and then based on that, they may or may not have revisions to their plan,” Garley said. “Then they will package that for our review.”

Repeated telephone messages left over multiple days at the Washington corporate office of Carrs/Safeway were not returned by press time.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.