Board changes mind, approves new convenience store on Pinehaven
By Randy Bell
Diagram showing the future location of the Arrow Post fuel center and convenience store, part of the first phase of the CityPointe Centre development planned for Pinehaven Drive.
After giving the go-ahead to a new mixed-use development in north Clinton but refusing to approve the convenience store that was part of the first phase, Clinton’s Board of Aldermen reversed course two weeks later, granting a conditional use permit to Arrow Post, the store to be built at the Pinehaven Drive entrance to CityPointe Centre.
With Ward 2 Alderman Jim Martin absent, the Board voted 4-2 in favor of the store at its March 19 meeting. The previous vote on March 5 had been 4-3 to deny the permit, with Martin, Ward 5 Alderwoman Beverly Oliver, Ward 6 Alderman James Lott and Alderwoman at Large Ricki Garrett voting “no.”
After Lott asked for the item to be brought back before the Board for consideration at the March 19 meeting, he made the motion to approve the conditional use and switched his vote, with Oliver and Garrett voicing the only opposition at the meeting.
Lott says there’s still some concern that the convenience store could wind up being the only business that’s built at CityPointe Centre, but he believes the road leading into the development from Pinehaven that’s also being constructed in the first phase will open the door for other commercial opportunities.
“Even if it just ends up being the convenience store for a month, a couple of months, a year—we have the infrastructure to build something there,” Lott says. “I think it’s going to beautify the area just a little bit more, which makes it more attractive for anybody to come in, whether it’s a restaurant or some kind of retail sales.”
Oliver told her colleagues that she’s gotten “multiple calls” from people who don’t want another convenience store in that area, “when we have four [within] 1.2 miles.” She says she also believes the amount of revenue the store will bring in is being overstated. But Mayor Phil Fisher says he stands behind the $1.5 million per month sales estimate which the company building the store provided.
Garrett said a convenience store is “not an appropriate anchor store” for the development.
Artist’s rendering of the layout of the planner Arrow Post fuel/convenience center.
CityPointe Centre development agent John Coughlin says Garrett’s characterization of Arrow Post is incorrect.
“It is not an anchor,” Coughlin says. “It’s an integral part of the development. It is part of phase one, which kicks it off and lets people know that this is coming. The anchor I’m looking for is a grocery store [and] the retail buildings that will house almost 72,000 square feet of retail space.”
Regarding concerns that the convenience store might be CityPointe Centre’s only tenant, Coughlin says that “doesn’t make business sense.”
“We’ve got some of the most valuable land sitting in [what is becoming] the middle of Clinton,” he notes. “For the landowners, for the future people that are involved, the developers, the investors – it makes zero sense to say we stop [building] at the convenience store, because it totally wastes fourteen acres of prime land if we stop now.”
Singh Investments, which is building Arrow Post, says they will break ground on the project soon.
Artist’s rendering of the planned Arrow Post, which the builder hopes will be complete within the next year.
“We’re going to go ahead and start cleaning up the land and trees,” says Lucky Singh. “It’ll be ready, hopefully, next year by this time.”
Singh says the store will offer homestyle meals, including breakfast and lunch plates Monday through Friday, with a “good sized” seating area. The fuel station will be able to handle twelve vehicles at the same time, including pumps dispensing gas, diesel, non-ethanol fuel and non-ethanol premium fuel for older cars. He also says there will be something unique to Arrow Post—it will provide charging stations for electric vehicles.
