Batavia Walgreens gets 3rd construction extension from city
Batavia officials agreed Tuesday — for the third time — to extend the deadline for starting construction of a new Walgreens store downtown.
But this time, the developer is confident construction will start within three months.
Austin Dempsey, vice president of Batavia Enterprises Inc., had a signed lease, at least 4 inches thick, at the city council's committee-of-the-whole meeting.
He said that he received it Tuesday afternoon from Walgreen Co.
“In 90 days or less, I would be very shocked if we aren't looking at a (demolished) site,” Dempsey said, after Alderman Dave Brown asked if the delay would “put a crimp” in getting the store built this year.
The store is to be built on the site of the former Swanson's Hardware stands, at 122 W. Wilson St., and will replace the Walgreens store next door at the Batavia Plaza shopping center.
The construction deadline is part of a redevelopment agreement between Batavia Enterprises Inc. and the city, which is giving financial incentives worth $1.14 million to get the store built.
Dempsey said changes at Walgreen Co. have contributed greatly to the delays. It reorganized corporate employees after buying another pharmacy company and got rid of its in-house real estate department. Then, late last year, it sent the developer an error-filled lease, including references to properties that aren't in Batavia.
After those mistakes were fixed and Batavia Enterprises Inc. returned the lease, Walgreen Co. “gutted” its legal department, Dempsey said, including lawyers with which he had worked.
Batavia Enterprises Inc. applied for the city's permission to build the new store in the summer of 2011. The city council approved the redevelopment agreement in February 2014.
Dempsey said Batavia Enterprises Inc. plans to have the store “under roof” by winter and may even have it finished by Christmas.
If that happens, Walgreen Co. probably wouldn't open the store until after the start of 2016, when the holiday season is over, he said.