New life for an old Marsh store in Westfield
WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — The old Marsh property in Westfield on Greyhound Pass has not had a full-time occupant in over five years, but the redevelopment will come with some headaches.
“I don’t like to see empty buildings” said Sue Childs as she and her friend Connie cut through the parking lot Monday morning, the two are regulars to the area, both shopped at the Marsh store until it closed in 2017. Seeing the fence going up around the parking lot and a new construction trailer sitting a few yards from the front door of the old Marsh store is a welcome sign. The new tenant is Academy Sports.
“It will be nice as long as they do something about the traffic,” Childs said.
The Westfield location is one of 44 Marsh locations I-Team 8 told you about in May, ones that had essentially sat empty since the grocery chain shut its doors for good.
The elephant in the room or in this case the parking lot is the traffic on Greyhound Pass. According to a post on the city of Westfield’s Facebook page, the road that runs in front of the old Marsh will close for eight months during the redevelopment. Since Marsh closed, the parking lot has become a cut through for traffic headed north and south. Jeremy Zientek is new to the area and never had a chance to taste Marsh’s fresh ideas, but he has a fresh take on the traffic
“It is always very hectic a lot of cars a lot of parking lot as you can see,” Zientek said.
Greyhound Pass is technically the road that feeds the shopping plaza. Over the years drivers have become accustom to this short cut. Essentially turning the parking lot into an unregulated street with hundreds of cars passing through every day. Goggle Maps directs traffic head south from 151st street through the parking lot.
“Not very easy to get through in and out,” Zientek said.
A spokesperson for the city of Westfield told I-Team 8 the contractor planned to close the parking lot this week. I was told by one of the contractor’s workers not authorized to talk on camera, they didn’t realize how much traffic come through the area and they may delay closing the parking lot until after the holiday weekend. To accommodate Academy Sports the front of the building will be demolished and rebuilt 20 feet to the west.
Traffic should return to normal in late summer 2023.