Icons for Sale: Vacancy Brings Possibilities For Former U.S. Bank Building—Maybe a Downtown Grocery Store

• Editor's note: This is the second of a multipart summer series by Tara Knott and Garrett Lance looking at the iconic Geneva buildings for sale and what they mean for Geneva's long-term development. See the series intro  and Part 1 on the Mill Race Inn here.

Last August, the U.S. Bank branch on the corner of North Third Street and Hamilton Street , rendering the building vacant exactly 50 years after its construction.

In the year since U.S. Bank moved, the North Third Street space has remained empty. Also within the last year, the property’s asking price has decreased from $3.9 million to $3.39 million.

The bank-owned site includes more than just the 20,985-square-foot building. A parking lot directly across Third Street bumps total land size up to 26,660 square feet.

In an area where parking is a premium, the former U.S Bank site offers 106 parking spots—24 in the parking lot, 62 spaces in an adjacent public parking lot just east of the building, and 20 potential spaces if the bank drive-through were converted.

Although the 21 N. Third St. property has been home to a number of banks in recent history, the space was originally a grocery store. The vacant building now has the opportunity to be reincarnated.

Dan Parsow, a managing director for the Kennedy Wilson Properties Group, believes the space would be desirable for a number of uses.

“Ideal uses would be a bank, boutique grocer, medical office or restaurant,” he told Geneva Patch.

A boutique grocery store in downtown Geneva seems to be an idea supported by many in the town. The city conducted a series of workshops last September with business owners, community members, and city officials to formulate ideas for downtown Geneva’s future. All groups voiced a need for a downtown grocery store.

Economic Development Director Ellen Divita believes that returning the property to it grocery store roots is a great idea.

A specialty grocer “would be a good redevelopment opportunity for that part of downtown,” Divita said.

The space contains both the parking and square footage necessary for a grocery store. An Existing Conditions Synthesis Report compiled by the city of Geneva in 2010 mentions that a Trader Joe’s within a neighborhood retail setting typically has a footprint between 8,000 and 10,000 square feet. The 31 N. Third St. property has more than 20,000 square feet.

The report further notes that, “… downtown Geneva may be desirable for this type of retailer if a site of sufficient size with appropriate parking and access could be identified.”

Divita points out that though some potential grocers “may feel that they have to have State Street exposure to attract customers, the space offers great flexibility with parking.”

Whatever the space becomes, the property’s redevelopment has the potential to act as a catalyst, positively impacting the surrounding businesses. For now, it remains another vacant building in a downtown in transition.

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