By Graham Sweeney
Two major Germantown shopping centers will soon receive a facelift as a result of action by the city’s Design Review Commission.
Commissioners unanimously approved projects to update storefront façades last week during their regularly scheduled meeting.
The first of the two projects will improve the old Kroger store site on Exeter Road to mimic the colors and landscaping recently applied to the rest of the Germantown Collection shopping center.
The second involves façade improvements to the Germantown Plaza shopping center at the corner of Farmington Blvd. and Exeter Road, which includes Hobby Lobby and Bed Bath & Beyond. This will result in the existing storefronts being updated to more closely resemble the façade of the Bed Bath & Beyond, which will remain the same.
Germantown Plaza property manager and owner David Weinstein of Farmex Rail, LLC said the business storefronts “need a little love.”
“This gives a much more pleasing look and feel to the entire stretch,” he said of the newly designed façades. “We didn’t want to just do Hobby Lobby and leave the thing to the left. We wanted to give it all one contiguous look and feel.”
Wayne Spears, with Mike Hughes Architects of Tulsa, Okla., helped perform the façade updates, which include brick wainscoting, EIFS stucco, multiple reveals and paneling breaks, and a cornice.
“We want it to all appear uniform,” he said, “but at the same time there is a little bit of a color variation so that each (business) has a little bit of uniqueness, but blends.”
Weinstein said the trees in front of the businesses will need to be trimmed in order for updates to be done.
While the commissioners agreed, they said the landscaping must be maintained at the shopping center.
“If (the trees) are damaged, they must be replaced,” said Commissioner Paul Bruns.
Weinstein also plans to address the lights in the parking lot at a later date.
“They are a mess,” he added.
