By Michael Hutchins, Herald Democrat
A grocery store could soon be moving into the Sherman Crossroads development in the near future. Representatives for Sherman Crossroads and Harkinson Development recently submitted a request with the US Army Corps of Engineers to allow them to fill a pond within the development in order to build a grocery store.
City officials previously teased the possibility of a grocery store in south Sherman during the annual mayor’s roundtable event in September. However, the city has not confirmed which grocery store chain has expressed interested in the Sherman Market.
“At Sherman Crossroads, which is on the south part of town, at (FM) 1417 (and US Highway) 75, Jeff (Harkinson) and his group have done a great job of developing that area,” City Manager Robby Hefton said in September. “There is currently under contract a 22-acre site for sale with that land to a major grocer whose name we cannot reveal.”
The USACE released a notice of the request to the public Thursday along with early details on the plans for the project and the development itself. The notice described the Crossroads site, located at the southwestern corner of South Travis and Crossroads Boulevard near the U.S. 75 and FM 1417 intersection, as 63.11 acres. The site would be a mid-sized grocery store and entertainment complex that would have 2.75 million square feet of retail and entertainment space.
Developers would place about 12,319 cubic yards of clean soil to fill in a 2.5-acre pond and nearby area of wetland. A new stormwater detention pond is proposed to be built on-site on about 5.3 acres of land.
The city of Sherman confirmed Thursday that it has been in conversations with developers for the site regarding a proposed grocery store but gave few details of the possible tenant. The removal of the pond will allow the site to have adequate parking to support the grocery store, Sherman Community and Support Services Manager Nate Strouch said.
Calls to Harkinson Development for comment were not immediately returned at the time of writing.
“Due to the nature of the pond and wetland extending through the southern area of the site, the ability to avoid the aquatic features and develop the southern region was impracticable based on parking and building requirements,” the public notice says. “Minimization would be accomplished through the construction of an on-site detention pond along the western side of the planned development, which would directly offset the stormwater detention and flood control functions provided by the existing pond.”
The USACE does not expect that the project would affect any threatened or endangered species or critical habitat.
