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Costco plans to open new upstate NY store. Here’s where

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6 months ago

July 2, 2024

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Costco plans to open new upstate NY store. Here’s where

A second Costco Wholesale store could be ahead for the Rochester area market – in Penfield.

Penfield Town officials this week confirmed that the town received an application for a sketch plan review for a mixed-used development project on Route 250, near Sweets Corners Road, where Costco is named as the anchor tenant.

Where would a new Costco go?

The project includes 51 acres of land on both the east and west side of Route 250, including property that once housed Grossmans Garden and Home in Penfield, just north of the Eastside YMCA and another apartment complex dedicated to seniors.

Grossmans opened at 1801 Fairport Nine Mile Point Road in 1984, and blossomed into one of the region’s top garden retail hot spots with a unique array of plants and top-notch customer service. The business closed in 2018 and its 5-acre parcel has stood vacant for the past six years as the greenhouses on the property have slowly deteriorated.

The proposed project, submitted by Penfield Partners LLC., would include both commercial and residential development, according to a news release from the town, though specific details on the plans were not released. Project details are expected to be shared on the town’s website later this month.

This stretch of Fairport Nine Mile Point Road (also known as Route 250) is part of a mixed-use development district and is about two miles north of Route 441. About a mile north, construction is underway at Route 250 and Atlantic Avenue for another mixed use development, which will include roughly 42,000 square feet of commercial space and 750 living spaces, including apartments and townhomes.

With that development and the new proposed project, Penfield residents are worried about increased traffic on an already congested road.

Currently, one Costco Wholesale store operates in the Rochester region. That 156,000-square-foot store opened in 2015 in the CityGate complex, where it serves as the plaza’s anchor tenant. The often bustling store was the wholesale retailer’s first store in western New York. A hotel and TopGolf are to be added to the CityGate Plaza within the next year.

According to the Costco website, two Costco stores currently operate in upstate New York – the Rochester store on Westfall Road and a store in Camillus, Onondaga County, just west of Syracuse.

What’s next?

Penfield’s Planning Board scheduled a tentative public hearing for Thursday, Aug. 8. This is a preliminary step in the application process. The proposed project will not be approved in any form at the meeting, however it will give residents an opportunity to share their thoughts on the proposed plan.