German grocery store Lidl adds old Pineland Station to list of prospects

German discount supermarket Lidl won’t back down from opening a store in the Lowcountry.

After submitting preliminary plans to the town of Bluffton for a grocery store at Buckwalter Place on June 7, the European grocer moved swiftly to send the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Community Development Department a pre-application and site plan for another store on June 24. Initial news of the potential store caused a stir for readers on social media.

The plan, submitted by Bohler Engineering NC PLLC on Lidl’s behalf, proposes the construction of a 36,185-square-foot store with 101 parking spaces at the southwest corner of the Sea Turtle Marketplace at the intersection of Mathews Drive and William Hilton Parkway. The area was once the old Pineland Station.

Anne Cyran, senior planner of the island’s Developmental Review and Zoning Division, said the application will be reviewed in a meeting at 10:30 a.m. July 18 in Conference Room 4 at Town Hall.

The Island Packet reported earlier this month that construction at the old Pineland Station halted on May 10 due to interior change requests from an anchor tenant and financial reasons. PetSmart, Kitchen and Company, and Another Broken Egg plan to join the Starbucks and the recently renovated Stein Mart on the property.

Tommy Smith, president of Sandcastle Constructors, said at the time that he was asked to stop work while the Virginia Beach, Va.-based developer, Wheeler Real Estate Co., restructured the “balance of their financing for the project.”

Smith said he would not resume work on the site until mid-July.

Two attempts to reach him Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Since the initial release of The Island Packet’s investigation into the construction at Sea Turtle Marketplace, representatives of Wheeler have failed to respond to multiple inquiries about development at the site and the company’s financial state.

The parent company, Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc., submitted a notice to the SEC on June 8 and disclosed that it had eliminated the position of chief operating officer, held by Steven Belote, on May 3. Belote served as Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust’s CFO for nearly five years and was hired as the COO Jan. 19. His employment with Wheeler will end June 30.

The current site plan on Wheeler Real Estate Co.’s website lists a building, which is the same structure detailed in Lidl’s submitted site plans, as “under contract.”

Charles Yowell, the project manager from Bohler, said he just recently took the project on but believes the property at Sea Turtle Marketplace is subdivided and that Lidl would have full control of constructing its store.

After establishing more than 10,000 stores in 27 countries throughout Europe, Lidl began its expansion into the U.S. last year with the opening of its headquarters in Arlington, Va. It is the largest competitor of Aldi, another German discount supermarket.

Lidl has yet to break ground and open its first store in the U.S., but it’s currently pursuing possible venues along the East Coast, including sites in the Carolinas, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, Delaware and Pennsylvania, according to its website.

A representative for Lidl U.S., Will Harwood, wrote in an email last week that Lidl is “actively pursuing sites in the region and throughout South Carolina as we expand.”

Two attempts to reach company officials Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Lidl plans to open its U.S. stores no later than 2018.

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 3:57 PM with the headline "German grocery store Lidl adds old Pineland Station to list of prospects."