One of the biggest grocers in the country is finally headed to Hoboken after years of rumors as a proposed Whole Foods inside a historic property recently took a step forward.
On December 17, Hoboken’s Planning Board deemed an application for 101-105 Washington Street complete during their Subdivision & Site Plan meeting. The property in question is a historic bank building that dates back over a century and was most recently utilized as a Walgreens location.
Construction and interior demolition work has already begun at the property to create a “vanilla box” space, but one of the biggest brands in groceries already has their eye on the space. Whole Foods has submitted plans to overhaul the property into one of their “Daily Shop” outposts, a new offshoot that opened their first location in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill neighborhood back in September.
The Daily Shop variety of the store offers “more convenience to our customers in locations between our larger format stores,” according to the company. Whole Foods has full-fledged marketplaces in both Downtown Jersey City and Weehawken but has no presence yet in Hoboken.
That could change under the current proposal, which was drawn up by Nastasi Architects. The plan will keep the exterior of the bank building mostly the same other than new signage that will be placed in the large center window along the Washington Street side of the property.
The entirety of the space spans about 14,000 square feet, according to a leasing brochure advertising the property. Besides groceries, blueprints for the Whole Foods show sections for frozen foods, meat and dairy departments, a bakery, produce, and a prepared foods area.
The basement of the property would be utilized for storage and space for employees under the plan, while the limited second floor would host restrooms.
While the Whole Foods plan is moving forward, the Planning Board still needs to fully approve the entire application before proper construction of the market itself can begin. A date has not yet been set to hear the proposal, but it should be considered sometime early next year.
