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City permits have been issued to demolish structures and clear land at the site of the proposed Sauer Center retail complex that is to be anchored by a Whole Foods Market near Richmond’s Fan District.

Richmond building permit records show a demolition permit was issued Tuesday for work at 2024 W. Broad St., with S.B. Cox Inc. listed as the contractor. The permit covers demolishing the former main Pleasants Hardware building and a metal building in an adjacent parking lot on the site.

A land disturbance permit for clearing the land was issued Aug. 25, and the contractor for that work is listed as H.W. Blankenship & Sons Inc.

Developer Sauer Properties Inc. received conditional approval from city planning administrators for the retail-anchored project in June.

The developers in September submitted applications for building permits for the grocery store and to install a construction trailer on the site. L.F. Jennings Inc. is listed as contractor on both applications. Approvals are pending for both.

Whole Foods Market’s only Richmond-area store is in the West Broad Village development in the Short Pump area in western Henrico County. The grocery chain in May 2014 announced that it would put a store in the proposed Sauer Center.