Quote Originally Posted by animatedmartian View Post
Well, IMO, they don't need the gas station to begin with. That's just something that Meijers will use to get extra revenue rather than having extra retail space that may or may not sit empty.
Agreed.

They could replace the gas station with another retail block but either way the main building will be in the back away from the street. It has to stay in a similar physical shape as most other big box stores for design and interior layout reasons.
If they didn't have the gas station then the building wouldn't need to be set back from the main road[[s), that's my point.

Had this been a design for Corktown or Downtown or somewhere closer to the inner-city where space is limited and valuable, then yes you'd be right about them putting the store up against the street. But since this is primarily residential area with low capacity streets with only one or two major roads, the current design makes the most sense.
Other than the larger lot sizes, the layout of this area is really not that different than the layout of Corktown: major arterial roads with major side streets feeding into them. Also, Grand River from Greenfield through Telegraph is probably one of the few remaining commercial thoroughfares in the city that hasn't completely deteriorated [[outside of downtown and midtown). Probably 80 - 90% of the buildings in that area directly abut the street. Meijer will be the standout for having such a large set back from the street.