Giant Eagle Building photo 1

There is a new source of anticipation, news, and rumors now in our little hometowns. If you've driven along Route 56 through Allegheny Township anytime in the past few months, I'm sure the Detour signs, the bulldozers, and the various new buildings piqued your curiosity. Construction for a new Giant Eagle began this past June, and driving by the site now, it's easy to see the swift progress of just a few short months.

Giant Eagle Building photo 2

I met with Mike McDonough from Aetos Construction who is building Giant Eagle and he explained that the walls are pre-cast. This means that they arrive to the site in very large slabs that just have to be set into the foundation. Mike said this type of construction goes up very fast because it eliminates having to lay blocks individually. In fact, the walls were up in about seven days.

Giant Eagle Building photo 3

Mr. McDonough said this building is probably about twice the size of the current Giant Eagle, roughly 80,000 square feet. On any given day, there are approximately 75 people working on the site.

Giant Eagle Building photo 4

Mike also took me on a tour and I saw future spots for the Eagle's Nest child care center, Iggle Video, the floral department, dry cleaning, and a café with seating area. In addition, there will be an in store bank, pharmacy with a drive through, and a Fuel Station.

Giant Eagle Building Photo 5

This Giant Eagle is only the second one in PA to add a fuel station to their services. Giant Eagle has met with great success in Ohio with four other stores who have incorporated the fuel service. A variety of other stores have already done this including Meijers, K-Mart, Krogers, and Sam's Club. This was basically a competitive decision for Giant Eagle. There are also three more Giant Eagles in Ohio and PA under construction that will include fuel stations.

Giant Eagle Building photo 6

Also coming to the plaza is Wendy's and S & T Bank. There are three more parcels of land available for stores or restaurants, but none have been claimed yet. Four Boys Supermarket Inc. owns all the land, and tenants lease the property individually from them.

The current Giant Eagle building, Ponderosa, and the Shop 'n' Save building are all owned by Echo Development. At the moment there are no hard set plans for these buildings. They are in the process of putting together a marketing package to present to a real estate agent, but there are no potential takers yet.

The goal is to open sometime mid-February 2002.