BEATRICE – Plans for a new Hy-Vee Grocery Story in Beatrice have been shelved, at least for now.


The Des Moines, Iowa-based supermarket chain had recently applied for tax increment financing to help develop a store at the former Shopko Hometown store in east Beatrice, one that Shopko closed a year ago. The building is now owned by Stan and Judy Meyer…owners of the Indian Creek Mall and Ashley Home Store.


Gage Area Growth Enterprise Executive Director Trevor Lee says news of Hy-Vee halting the plan was received this week.
"The City of Beatrice, NGage, the building owner...we've all been working with the company since the onset of the project which began in earnest, in 2019. Even as recently as Monday, everything was moving forward as planned....the close on the building was set to occur, probably in the next couple of weeks. The company had applied for the use of tax increment financing with the city. As of Monday, everything was looking really good...and just kind of out of the blue later on Wednesday, our primary contact on the real estate side of things with the company, was sort of caught off guard, himself...and said he had kind of gotten word through senior leadership that the Beatrice project would not be moving forward".


Lee says local officials were told that more information would be shared by the corporation at a later date.


Some larger U.S. corporations have made reductions in recent months, some related to the coronavirus pandemic and a drop in consumer traffic. Lee says that could be a factor, but he said grocery chains have fared better than some others sectors during the pandemic.
"And, this company in particular was doing very well before the pandemic. I don't think it's a financial issue so much, but I'm sure their focus has been directed elsewhere, over the past couple of months".


Hy-Vee has over 265 stores in Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri and South Dakota and ranks among the top 25 supermarket chains in the U.S.


Lee says the focus is still on breathing life into the project. He says a project like this doesn’t often happen quickly. Lee says it doesn’t appear the number of grocery options in Beatrice factored into the project stalling.
"I think this store has got a pretty good niche market and they had already gone through that due diligence. They would not have entered into an option or put the building under contract, if that was a major concern for them".


Lee says his biggest disappointment is for the community.
"When it was kind of leaked, in recent months....it was kind of a bright spot in a strange and dark time. I just hope everybody understands that these types of projects....they stretch out, they take a long time and as far as we're concerned, it's not done yet. We've got a lot of key partners with the city, the NGage Board, the building owner....that are ready to go to battle for this project, if there's any way we can keep it moving forward".


Beatrice currently has two full-service grocery stores…..Sunmart and Russ’s Market. The company that operates Russ’s Market acquired the former Heartland Foods Grocery Store in October, 2018. Walmart also has a grocery section at its Beatrice store.