Highland Looks for New Purpose of Old Grocery Store
The Highland Ultra grocery store has been vacant since 2017. (photo courtesy: Joseph Pete/The Times of Northwest Indiana)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEconomic development officials from Lake County are exploring redevelopment opportunities for the former Highland Ultra grocery store that has sat vacant since 2017. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report the property owner is marketing the site for a light industrial redevelopment.
The property is owned by DLC Management Corp, a developer based in Oak Park, Illinois. The publication says DLC, along with real estate agent PW Commercial Real Estate, says it is considering razing the former big-box store and building a 140,000-square-foot build-to-suit industrial site.
Lake County Economic Alliance Chief Executive Officer Karen Lauerman says another option would be to renovate and re-purpose the existing building.
“Big-box stores are being repurposed as space for food packaging, life sciences, technology, professional engineering firms or light industrial,” said Lauerman. “Alverno Laboratories is in the former Walmart in Hammond. There’s an opportunity because the bones of that building are great, as is the facade.”
Lauerman says any new use would not be heavy industry or intensive logistics with a steady outflow of semi-trailer trucks. She says another grocery store is unlikely for the property since there is a Super Walmart just down the street.