A Michigan property developer hopes to bring a Starbucks Coffee shop to a new development on the corner of Broadway and School Street in Bangor next summer.
Alrig USA developer Gabe Schuchman said on Monday that the company intends to construct two buildings at 685 and 699 Broadway, one of which will house a Starbucks coffee shop and drive-thru.
The other three commercial spaces in the two buildings — one around 4,100 square feet and the other around 5,300 square feet — will house three yet-to-be determined retail or restaurant businesses. There will be entrances to the properties from both School Street and Broadway, according to a proposal mockup.
Schuchman said the firm is hoping for a summer 2023 opening for all tenants, provided all permits are approved. The developer is working to attract tenants including a national fitness chain and some other national brands, he said.
The properties at 685 and 699 Broadway formerly housed Kelley Car & Truck, an auto dealership that moved to a new location at 1745 Hammond St. in 2018. The old buildings were torn down not long after it moved, and the lot has remained empty since. School Street is also an access road to the Broadway Shopping Center and its busy Hannaford supermarket.
A Starbucks was previously located on Broadway for less than a year between 2007 and 2008, in the same building that now houses Bangor Savings Bank. It closed as the coffee chain shut down a number of locations nationwide at the height of the Great Recession. The only other Starbucks locations in the Bangor area are a kiosk inside Target and a standalone store at 38 Bangor Mall Boulevard, a spot that regularly sees cars from the drive-thru line wrapped around the building and out into the street.
Tanya Emery, Bangor’s economic and community development director, said Monday that Alrig has not yet applied for any permits with the city, though she said the city had met preliminarily with the developers.
Alrig, however, is applying for a traffic movement permit from the Maine Department of Transportation.