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Whole Foods will open a store in Newark, a spokesman confirmed

(Courtesy of Whole Foods)

Whole Foods has signed a lease for a 29,000-square-foot outlet in the former Hahne & Co. department store building in Newark. The formal announcement is expected tomorrow afternoon, a spokesman confirmed.

No other details were available this evening.

Mayor Cory Booker has been campaigning to bring the healthy food store to the city since 2007. He gave Co-CEO Walter Robb and a regional president a tour in 2012.

The store will anchor the Hahne’s conversion into a multi-use building, featuring 127 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments on the upper floors. The main level will be 83,000 square feet of retail and office space.

The project is a joint partnership between the Newark-based Hanini Group and L&M Development Partners of New York.

Sources speaking on background said other national retailers have been inquiring about availability in the 112-year-old building on Broad Street.

Whole Foods, with 364 stores in the U.S. and abroad, has 10 stores in New Jersey, mostly in upscale locations such as Montclair, West Orange and Princeton.

The announcement marks the second major grocery store chain to come to Newark. ShopRite announced in May it will built a new 67,000-square-foot store on Springfield Ave. Construction is expected to begin before the end of the year.

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