ST GEORGE – Development in the area of Mall Drive and Riverside Drive continues with the official groundbreaking of a Smith’s Marketplace slated to be ready for business by spring 2017.
“This is good for St. George and it’s good for the citizens,” St. George Mayor Jon Pike said at the groundbreaking.
The new Smith’s Marketplace will be situated at the corner of Mall Drive and Riverside Drive by Goldenwest Credit Union and the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site. It will also be 123,000 square feet in size and serve as the anchor of the first phase of a 25-acre commercial center.
“It’s going to be more than a grocery store, it’s a marketplace store” said Kenny Kimball, president of Smith’s Food & Drug, as he referred to the additional stores and departments that patrons will find in the new Smith’s Marketplace once completed.
The $21 million Smith’s Marketplace will offer a complete grocery store along with pharmacy, apparel and household needs; Fred Meyer Jewelers; Murray’s Cheese, sit-down sushi and hot Asian food bar; fresh made to order baked pizzas, salads and sandwiches; and a Starbucks with indoor and outdoor seating. In addition, the store will feature an on-site Smith’s Fuel Center, ClickList Online grocery pick up and two-lane drive through pharmacy.
Smith’s Food & Drug has been looking for a location for a second supermarket in St. George for about a decade, Kimball said, and it finally found “the sweet spot” with the Mall Drive location.
“This is really an interesting crossroads and a great location,” Randy Woodbury, president of Woodbury Corporation, said. The Woodbury Corporation partnered with both Smith’s Food & Drug and Ball Ventures to develop the incoming commercial center.
“This crossroads is really the place to be,” Woodbury said as he reflected on how construction of the Mall Drive Bridge, completed in September 2014, has helped spur the economy in that part of St. George.
Development in the area of Mall Drive between Riverside Drive and 3000 East has moved forward since the bridge was completed.
A separate commercial center on the east side of the Virgin River hugs Mall Drive and 3000 East and currently features a Lin’s Fresh Market that opened in March.
On the west side, near the incoming Smith’s Supermarket will be a 244-room luxury apartment project called the Grayhawk Apartments at River’s Edge.
The city is excited to have the new Smith’s Marketplace, Pike said, adding that the new location will be much more convenient for area residents.
“It means they don’t have to travel as far to go into town,” he said.
The new supermarket and the growth around it reflects on the overall growth St. George continues to experience, Pike said. The city has an average annual growth rate of between 2 and 3 percent, the mayor said, which is currently above the state annual average of just under 2 percent.
When the Smith’s Marketplace on Mall Drive is completed it will in the second store in St. George and the 14th built in Utah. The existing Smith’s Food & Drug Store at 20 North Bluff Street in St. George will remain operational.
Smith’s is now midway into a plan announced in 2015 to expand the Marketplace brand in Utah through 2017, representing a construction investment of $300 million in the state.
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Graphic detailing the layout of the incoming commercial center at Mall Drive and Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2016 | Graphic courtesy of Smith's Food & Drug, St. George News Officials break ground to usher in the construction of a new Smith's Marketplace to be built at Mall Drive and Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2016 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St George News At the official groundbreaking of a new Smith's Marketplace to be built at Mall Drive and Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2016 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St George News Kenny Kimball, president of Smith’s Food & Drug, addresses the crowd at the official groundbreaking of a new Smith's Marketplace to be built at Mall Drive and Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2016 |Photo by Mori Kessler, St George News St. George Mayor Jon Pike (second in from the left) and representatives of Smith's Food & Drug, Wadman Corporation, Woodbury Corporation and Ball Ventures. Each group is involved in developing the incoming Smith's Marketplace and commercial center at Mall Drive and Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2016 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St George News
At the official groundbreaking of a new Smith's Marketplace to be built at Mall Drive and Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2016 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St George News 
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