A Sneak Peek at New Urbandale Hy-Vee

The new Urbandale Hy-Vee store will be fancy enough to be a date night destination.

Casual coffee date? Meet for Starbucks coffee and sit in the lounge with the leather chairs next to a fireplace.

Drinks after work? Pair beer or wine with sushi from the sushi bar or some artisan cheeses. Eat on the outdoor patio.

Dinner date? At 4 p.m., the dining area becomes a restaurant that will be similar to an Appleby's or Chili's, said store manager Josh Asche.

Right now, Asche said store executives are expecting a grand opening by mid-August.

And what about those rumors around town that Hy-Vee will be closed for up to a month before it reopens in the new building?

"It's a possibility," said Asche. "I'd be lying if I said it hasn't been discussed."

The problem: The new store eventually will have 502 parking spots. Currently, Hy-Vee is operating with 290 spots because of the construction. The problem is that by the time the store is ready, the parking lot might not be.

"We could have 134 spots and that's not a good thing," he said.

"We know the customers will show up. The last thing we want to have is for them to show up and they can't find a place to park," Asche said.

Details about the transition will be announced on July 2, he said.

The new store is being built immediately west of the current store. Once everything has been moved from the current store, it will be demolished.

Here are some changes to the original plan reported on Patch in November:

• Two to three month after the grand opening, Hy-Vee will add a fuel station in the parking lot of the old store and, for you gardening fans, a 9,000-square foot unattached garden center that will be heated so it can be open earlier in the spring and later in the fall.
• Instead of Caribou Coffee, the coffee shop will be operated by Starbucks.
• There will be a gelato (Italian ice cream that's 30 percent lower in fat) station.
• "Our Health Market will be second to none. We've got two of the best people running that," Asche said
• "We're adding on a second dietitian so we can have seven-day-a-week coverage for our customers."

"Our goal with our operation is to be a destination point whether it's postal, dry cleaning, health, or specialty pasta."