Mat-Su

Photos: Palmer Carrs demolished to make way for new store

PALMER -- The old Carrs shopping center is going down. Demolition is underway -- and it's pretty cool.

Next spring, Fred Meyer will start building a new $28 million store at the Palmer property to replace the company's apparently undersized 10-year-old building just across the Glenn Highway.

The new store, scheduled to open in spring 2016, will rise over the former home of the 30-year-old Pioneer Square Shopping Center that housed a Safeway/Carrs grocery store until 2010 when the company built a new store -- just across the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Crews from Alaska Demolition started taking down the old shopping center on Oct. 29 after removing any hazardous materials, according to Mike Waddell, the company's general manager. Debris that can't be recycled and sold will go to the company's disposal site at the state fairgrounds. The demolition started on the northwest side, where the Alaska Club was located, and is moving toward the actual Carrs space. The rest of the building will probably go down on Saturday, Waddell said.

Contact Zaz Hollander at zhollander@alaskadispatch.com.

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