WYOMING, Mich. --The City of Wyoming approved a new development off U-S 131 and 44th Street on Tuesday night. The new site includes a 56,000-square foot Fox Powersports store, as well as a gas station and restaurant.
The proposed plan is to demolish the vacant Fifth Third Bank building and replace it with a new gas station.
"It's sat vacant for many years," said City Planner Timothy Cochran. "It used to be a Value City shopping center for probably--since the 60's. That site was demolished many years ago."
A four-story hotel has already been approved for south of the Fox Powersports site. The City of Wyoming Planning Commission said that the Fox Powersports store will be the anchor of the entire 12-acre property.
"Our long term desire was to establish a very high-profiled and quality commercial development here, and this fits right in," said Cochran.
The city planner is hoping the store will bring in customers from all over west Michigan.
Fox Powersports sells sporting vehicles such as snowmobiles, motorcycles and ATVs.
The proposed plan also calls for a J&H gas station that will also have an attached Tim Horton’s restaurant.
"We hope to dress it up," Craig Hoppen, president of J&H Oil Company. "We want to be a nice entrance to Wyoming off the highway there. We want to have a flagship site that you guys can be proud of as a neighbor."
The city said that it has already spoken with neighboring business about the plans and said the business owners are excited for the eyesore to be eliminated.
"Business owners are very happy because they've been looking at this vacant piece of property as well," said Cochran. "It hasn't done them any good."
Cochran also said that the City of Wyoming received about $10 million in state and federal funding previously previouslly to reconstruct the US-131 interchange at 44th Street to make the area capable of handling extra traffic.
