A new commercial building that will house a juice bar, drive-thru coffee shop and other offerings will be built along a Dubuque road in the midst of a reconstruction project of its own.
Switch Development plans to construct an 11,400-square-foot facility at 3415 Stoneman Road. The building, which will have room for up to six tenants, is scheduled to open in early 2023. The complete property investment will be about $3.2 million.
Switch Development is owned by Matt Mulligan, president and chief operating officer of Conlon Construction Co., which is constructing the building.
“We expect the shell (of the building) to be completed at the end of the year,” he said. “We’re going to start tenant buildouts for the current tenants we have right around then, and we’ll be looking to open the building in early 2023.”
Mulligan also owns Switch Homes, which is responsible for a proposed housing development along the Northwest Arterial that recently received City Council approval for rezoning.
The building on Stoneman Road will include six tenant spaces: four each spanning 1,800 square feet, one at 2,400 square feet and one at 1,600 square feet.
Three of the 1,800-square-foot spaces already are spoken for. Although Mulligan declined to share the names of those tenants, he said one will include a “walk-in juice bar,” while another will be a drive-thru coffee shop that also will offer food items. The third tenant is a local business.
Mulligan also noted that there will be electric-vehicle charging stations on the property, along with “thoughtful landscaping” and patio space both at the front and back of the building.
“It will be right next to the new GreenState Credit Union building,” Mulligan said. “Stoneman (Road) is being redone as well, so it’s going to be a great retail spot. It’s just meant to bring more options to that area right there.”
The land on which Switch Development’s building is being constructed previously housed a Richardson Motors dealership, which relocated to Westside Drive in December 2019. GreenState Credit Union purchased the site, demolished the Richardson facility and subdivided the property into two parcels, retaining the one closest to John F. Kennedy Road and selling the western parcel to Switch Development.
GreenState broke ground on its 7,800-square-foot facility at 3405 Stoneman Road, also being built by Conlon Construction, in October. The new building will replace the credit union’s current location at 1805 JFK.
GreenState Chief Marketing Officer Jim Kelly wrote in an email to the Telegraph Herald that total costs for the project remain at about $7 million. Although officials previously predicted an August opening, Kelly wrote that the opening now is slated for October.
“Any delays we have seen really coincide with supply issues that everyone is experiencing,” he wrote. “Projects just take more time.”
GreenState employs 11 people in the Dubuque market. Kelly wrote that additional hires could take place next year due to “great growth” in the market.
“The staff are extremely excited to move into the new building,” he wrote. “Having a new facility with additional space and easier access for members positions us well for future growth.”
The reconstruction project on Stoneman Road that has been underway for much of the summer also is nearing its conclusion.
City Council members in May approved a contract with McDermott Excavating to reconstruct the roadway, storm sewer and water main, and to install streetlights and sidewalks. Construction began in late May, and City of Dubuque civil engineer Jon Dienst said Wednesday that the project remains on track for completion by mid-September.
“We are currently working on excavating the right-turn lane on JFK and finishing up storm sewer work there,” he said. “That will be another couple of weeks, and then we’ll be switching over to the next phase, which will be up toward Hills & Dales, doing excavating and utility work.”
As part of the project, city staff are constructing a new cul-de-sac on Stoneman that still will allow access to the Kennedy Mall parking lot. The city also will give the westernmost portion of Stoneman to Hills & Dales, and the nonprofit will use the space to expand its parking lot.
Dienst said the roadway has had stormwater drainage issues for years, which this project addresses with storm sewer improvements.
“Having the improved roadway, I think, will most definitely be attractive to other tenants in the area,” he said. “Right now, the roadway is in pretty rough shape, and having new (storm sewer) intakes, utilities and sidewalks on the north side will be beneficial for everybody.”