Construction on the new Whole Foods Market in Amherst is scheduled to begin later this spring but the building permit required for the project has still not been filed. Amherst officials confirm that the town is still waiting on a building permit from WS Development. That permit was expected to be filed in January.
Andrew Manning, who is in charge of the $11 million project for WS Development, tells 7EWN Anchor Jeff Russo that the delay is due to some fine tuning of the building plan with Whole Foods. Manning expects that a building permit will be filed within the next couple of weeks and says the start of construction remains on schedule for later this spring.
Michael Sinatra, a spokesperson for Whole Foods, says that the company is still "100 percent" committed to the project. Sinatra added that the Amherst location is still on track to open in mid 2017.
Once work starts construction on the shell of the building is expected to take up to six months. Whole Foods will then take over the building where its expected that another 9-11 months will be needed to complete the interior of the building.
As for the redevelopment of the Northtown Plaza as a whole potential construction is not expected to take place until Whole Foods opens in mid 2017.
