Driveway Fight Could Cost Portsmouth New Supermarket

The mystery supermarket that is proposed to come to the Portsmouth area that I have previously blogged about may be about to back out of the deal over a driveway. The supermarket, according to seacoastonline.com, still is unknown. The new market was set to take over the space vacated by Shaw’s at 1600 Woodbury Ave. There has been a lot of talk about what grocery chain is coming to the site, but it has been referred to as “a high-end grocery store.”

Apparently, the big stir is about road access to the store. The attorneys for the chain have said that they sought “to upgrade the existing shopping center with new additional signage, a new driveway entrance off of Woodbury Avenue, and repurposing of the former supermarket space to separate retail space and new grocery space with accessory café/food court.”

Parking and Transportation Engineer Eric Eby says “its adverse to put another driveway in this location” according to seacoastonline.com. Attorneys for the supermarket have said, “if they don’t get this, they’re not coming.” The standoff continues. Let’s hope they can come to an agreement so that Portsmouth can get the new grocery store and bring some jobs to the area.