For many years a corn field has incongruously been growing at the corner of one of London’s busiest intersections.

But the northeast corner of Oxford St. W. and Wonderland Rd. will soon sprout a large new commercial development, anchored by a Sobeys supermarket and an LCBO outlet.

The 10,000 sq. m. project is being developed by the ESAM Group. Founded by Sam Katz and Ewald Bierbaum, the company is best known for the Cherryhill residential-commercial complex farther east on Oxford St. W.

ESAM has been negotiating with the city’s planning department for over a year. Eric Conway of the planning department said issues such as stormwater and parking have been largely settled but there are still negotiations about how the buildings will be situated at the corner of the busy intersection.

“We are very far along in the negotiations...They would like to get servicing this fall and full permits in the spring,” Conway said.

The Sobeys supermarket will anchor the property on the east side with two retail plazas, each with four to five businesses, fronting on Oxford St. W. to the south and Farrah Rd. on the north.

On the west side, a larger office-restaurant retail complex will be built on the corner of Wonderland Road and Oxford St. W.

The site is zoned for commercial development but has been used for agricultural purposes as a default. Conway said.

The Sobeys store will be the second in London, with the other located on Adelaide St. N.

In recent years the Sobeys chain has focused on converting its Price Chopper outlets to the FreshCo brand.

Conway said there is an unrelated development on an adjacent site with Costco applying to install a gas bar to complement its retail store.

He expects that ESAM will begin installing services on the site this fall.

“I know they would like to be out there servicing tomorrow, but I think this fall would be quite reasonable,” Conway said.

hank.daniszewski@sunmedia.ca

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ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT

Location: northeast corner of Oxford St. and Wonderland Rd.

Project:Sobeys grocery store, LCBO, retail space

Builder: ESAM