BUSINESS

Lucky's Market to open in Victorian Village

The Columbus Dispatch

Lucky's Market plans to open a grocery store in the redeveloped Thurber Village, in Victorian Village.

Lucky's Market plans to open a second Columbus location in Victorian Village.

The Bedford-based grocery chain, which operates a store on N. High Street in Clintonville, will anchor the redeveloped Thurber Village shopping center at the southwest corner of Neil and Buttles avenues.

The Columbus developer Casto plans to build 225 apartments at the redeveloped Thurber Village, in addition to a CVS and Lucky's Market.

The move brings a grocery store back to the site, which housed a Giant Eagle until 2017.

Lucky's will occupy 21,000 square feet in a standalone store along Neil Avenue, part of the mixed-use project developed by the Columbus firm Casto.

“We would like to thank Casto for including Lucky’s in this collaborative project,” said Lucky's Vice President Aaron Saltzman.

“As Buckeye alumni and former Columbus residents, we know and love the area. We were thrilled to begin to serve the Columbus market in 2020 with the acquisition of the Lucky’s Market in Clintonville. Now, we couldn’t be happier to be a part of the redevelopment of Thurber Village and bring a brand new Lucky’s Market to this growing and thriving community.”

The Saltzman family, which owns Dave's Markets, bought the Columbus and Cleveland Lucky's Markets in 2020, after Lucky's filed for bankruptcy. Lucky's Market opened its Clintonville store in 2013.

Casto would replace the strip center now at Thurber Village with two commercial buildings and an apartment building, as shown in this footprint.

Casto has proposed a total redevelopment of Thurber Village shopping center, which it has owned since 2005. The proposed redevelopment would include a 13,000-square-foot CVS on the corner of Neil and Buttles avenues, and 225 apartments on the west side of the site, in addition to the Lucky's Market.

“We are thrilled to have Lucky’s Market join this exciting project,” said Eric Leibowitz, vice president of development and leasing at Casto. “The neighborhood has been after a grocery store since Giant Eagle left.”

Casto's proposed redevelopment of Thurber Village includes apartments as well as retail.

Casto plans to start construction this fall on the CVS store, which is expected to open next summer. CVS's current store in the shopping center will remain open until the new one is completed.

Details of the project's phasing are still being worked out, said Leibowitz, but the three other existing tenants in the center - Great Clips, Nails on Neil and Boston Stoker Coffee Co. - will remain until demolition begins on the center.

"They'll continue to operate over a period of time, but we're still working out the details," Leibowitz said.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker