Ground Breaking for Coop's Market

"CWC Inc. President Phil Cooper broke ground Tuesday for his and the City of Eagle Mountain's first full-service grocery store, Coop's Market.
Twenty shovels, with bright red bows above gold-toned blades, stood ready before the ceremony at 93662 N. Ranches Parkway on Tuesday. About 75 people -- dignitaries, businessmen and residents -- turned out for the city's historical event.

"We're excited to be here, and we're excited to put this project together," said Cooper at the event. He said the store will employ 75-125 people and that he hopes to have 90 percent of those employees come from Eagle Mountain.

The future store will be built on property that was used as a dry farm primarily for wheat in the early and mid-1900s by Lehi residents Virginia and Rodney Chase Allred.

An anchor for a 10-acre shopping center, the 50,000-square-foot Coop's Market will feature a bakery, deli, indoor and drive-up pharmacy, an organic food section, a butcher-block meat counter and a fresh produce section.

Residents currently need to go to neighboring communities for major grocery shopping. The opening of Coop's Market will likely change that.

"We've been working on this project for a couple of years now, and I know it's just a grocery store but hopefully this will stimulate a lot of other commercial development," said Ifo Pili, the city's economic development director. "I'm excited for the residents. It's been a long time coming. We're 23,000 residents, and we've needed a grocery store."

He said some of the delay in moving the project forward was because it will be the first of its kind in Eagle Mountain and it involved several different parties.

Coop's Market is a member of Associated Food Stores, a grocery cooperative.

The building design shows piers, canopies and trellises to give the structure variety and interest. Done in an old-market theme, the design makes use of the natural light in the area with more windows than is typical for a grocery store.

"We wanted to provide some visibility from the street and give it a sense of transition from exterior to interior," said Prescott Muir architect Corey Cracroft.

In addition to the grocery store, there will be two retail pads and three in-line storefronts available -- two small and one medium -- comprising 18,000 square feet.

R&O Construction will be working on the project. No completion date for the store was given, although many of the speakers said they were excited to see the project started." -Daily Herald