(6) Hy-Vee announces a $7-$10-million, 22,000- square-foot expansion

Officials from Hy-Vee Inc. took the first public steps in 2013 toward a long-rumored expansion of its Austin location.

Hy-Vee officials announced in July that they were planning a $7- to $10-million, 22,000-square-foot expansion of the Austin grocery store, at 1001 18th Ave. NW. The expansion will add space to the east and southeast, rearrange the store layout, add a restaurant and many other amenities, and bring it to about 82,000 square feet.

“You’re getting all the good stuff that we’ve been working on for the last few years that we’re putting in all our new stores,” Jeff Stein, a Hy-Vee official, said at the time to the Austin Planning Commission. “This will be the best and greatest of everything that we’re doing.”

Austin Hy-Vee manager Todd Hepler said on Tuesday that they plan to break ground early this spring. He said the process will take almost exactly one year, and will add about 125 to 150 jobs. He said the store will remain open throughout the process.

“We’re super excited,” Hepler said Tuesday. “I think it’s something that’s well overdue in our community.”

Additions include a full-service restaurant and bar, a pharmacy drive-through, chef stations, a gourmet cheese shop, a humus and salsa bar, and a sushi bar. The store will also expand its Chinese and Italian kitchen sections, its grocery pick-up area, add more bulk items and have a larger variety of groceries.