Patton Township’s Planning Commission on Monday heard an overview of early plans for a new, larger building for one of the initial tenants of the Colonnade, along with other retail businesses.
Colonnade owner Allied Properties, Inc. recently submitted a sketch plan for a new 60,016-square-foot anchor building that would be the new home for Dick’s Sporting Goods. The building to be constructed on the vacant lot between Target and Kohl’s would approximately double the national sporting goods retailer’s current space at 325 Colonnade Boulevard.
“They need more retail space,” said project engineer Dave Wilson, of Collier’s Engineering and Design. “So they’ve discussed this with Allied Properties, and it makes sense to keep them in the Colonnade as opposed to for them looking somewhere else.”
Allied Properties has “been in discussions with a tenant that’s interested in taking over” the current Dick’s Sporting Goods space, Wilson added.
The new building will also include three additional retail spaces totaling 15,545 square feet for unidentified tenants to be located between the new Dick’s store and Target — two at 4,729 square feet and one at 6,087 square feet.
A building on the proposed site was included in the 1999 master plan for the Colonnade, of which Dick’s was an original tenant and which has since grown to encompass. In 2020, the township approved a plan for five new retail buildings totaling 68,633 square feet on the same pad, but it was never recorded and has since expired.
“So hopefully the third time’s the charm,” Wilson said.
Development of the parcel will complete the remaining build-out in the original master site plan for the Colonnade, zoning officer Nicole Harter said.
Existing utilities installed as part of the original Colonnade development will require modification to accommodate the planned building and site configuration.
The development will require additional stormwater infrastructure to meet current regulations, Wilson said.
“The exact extent and quantity and size is still to be determined,” he said. “…[B]ut we may have to provide an underground stormwater infiltration basin. That would be in the parking lot underground.”
The developer and township will also be reviewing whether any changes to parking are needed, as well as any other requirements under the current subdivision and land development ordinance.
A sketch plan is voluntary and meant to garner feedback before a land development plan is submitted. Wilson noted that the proposal is “very early in in the process.”
Asked about when Allied Properties hopes to start construction, though, Wilson said “the sooner the better.”
“If I’m speaking very aggressively and very optimistically, maybe four to six months to go through township planning and the conservation district permitting, but sometimes it takes longer than that,” he said. “But that would be a goal.”
The Patton Township Board of Supervisors is expected to review the sketch plan at its Jan. 28 meeting. After that, Wilson said, the developer hopes to submit a formal land development “sooner than later.”
