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Printer-Friendly ModeKochville resident planning to build bookstore near SVSU
April 17, 2006 —
While Hooters plans to break ground near campus sometime this spring, SVSU could also be getting a couple of new businesses catering to college students near campus - without controversy.
Local resident David Beattie recently received approval from the Kochville Township Planning Commission to rezone several acres at 7760 Bay Road, just north and west of campus, from agricultural to commercial.
Beattie plans to open a bookstore and a pizza parlor in a strip mall style format, both of which would be geared toward SVSU students. If demand exists, Beattie may open more retail shops in the strip mall.
The final rezoning must be approved by the Kochville Township Board of Trustees at its Tuesday, April 18 meeting.
"The building that's drawn so far is 60 by 150 (square feet)," Beattie says.
Construction on the strip mall has been held up the past few years pending the widening of Bay Road into a four-lane boulevard. Beattie Pools used to operate on the property until 2003, when changes to Kochville Township zoning ordinances deemed the land agricultural, and the business relocated to its current address a mile and a half south at 6232 Bay Road.
Each business will have its own separate entrance. "Cardinal Pizza," the name of the proposed pizza parlor, will be an independent establishment geared for quick delivery. The bookstore is currently in the process of developing a name.
Beattie does not expect to break ground on the project until next year at the earliest, he says.
Unrelated to the halted Cardinal Townhomes development at Pierce and Davis, Beattie has received public support from dueling sides - Kochville Township Supervisor Kenneth P. Bayne and SVSU professor of social work Stephen J. Yanca, who is leading a recall campaign against Bayne and three other Township Board members for their support of the Cardinal Townhomes development.
Bayne is pleased to see further commercial development in Kochville Township, and realizes that profitable college student-oriented businesses may spur further growth in the sector and continue the transformation of Kochville into more of a traditional college town.
"Every business in the area that's successful contributes to the overall business climate," Bayne says.
Bayne also says that preliminary talks are under way to bring several small businesses to a retail plaza, south of SVSU and north of the Saginaw Bay Ice Arena on Bay Road where Hickey's Choppers currently resides, that may also cater to the needs of students.