PERRYSBURG – A small retail center was approved Thursday at the intersection where a Costco store is
planned.
The city’s Planning Commission voted 7-0 to OK both the preliminary and final site plans for a
6,000-square-foot building on .84 acres at the northeast corner of Ohio 25 and Eckel Junction Road.
Costco has city approval to build a 154,000-square-foot warehouse store near the southeast corner of the
intersection.
Also at the meeting, commission members heard a Taco Bell is planned further south near the former D.C.
Ranch. A developer has begun submitting early plans for review, said Brody Walters, planning and zoning
administrator.
The retail project approved Thursday is planned by Tolson Enterprises, which also owns facilities just to
the north, including Arby’s and the Shoppes at Perry Junction, said President Steve Speranza. The new
building is identified in the plans as an expansion of the Shoppes at Perry Junction.
No tenants have been identified, but the building will dedicate 2,000 square feet for a restaurant with
no drive-through and the remaining 4,000 feet for retail space, according to the plans.
"We’ve been working for quite some time to try to develop something that is what we hope to be a
cornerstone piece that looks really nice, and we think we’ve accomplished that," Speranza said.
He acknowledged that Costco’s plans to locate nearby made the site attractive, but said these plans
wouldn’t be scrapped if that project didn’t come to fruition.
"We believe in the corner with or without (Costco)," Speranza said.
Traffic studies indicate no road improvements are needed to facilitate additional traffic, though the
developer will contribute to $2.2 million in previously planned improvements to the intersection,
including new and expanded lanes of travel.
That total has not yet been calculated, as Tolson Enterprises has agreed to provide easements and
eliminate several existing curb cuts to accommodate the roadway improvements, and those costs could
exceed the required contribution. Walters praised the company for being cooperative as the intersection
work was planned.