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Woodman's planning new headquarters

JANESVILLE — Woodman's plans to build a three-story corporate headquarters near its Janesville grocery store at 2819 N. Lexington Drive.

The new building would be constructed in the parking lot south of the store and west of Liberty Lane.

Corporate offices now are in a building north of the grocery store.

The project cleared a regulatory hurdle Monday, when the city's plan commission reviewed the site plan and approved an amendment to Woodman's conditional-use permit.

The 32,043-square-foot office building would employ up to 125 people, according to a city memo. City documents do not include a timeline for the project, and a Woodman's spokesperson was not available this morning.

City staff does not anticipate traffic to increase from the development because the corporate office already is in the same area, development specialist Vicky Miller said in a memo.

Miller said parking shouldn't be a problem.

"They have so much space in that parking lot now that is underused," Miller said. "It is going to be OK, but as far as future development, we anticipate needing a parking study before additional development (beyond the new building)."

The site plan calls for 773 stalls.

Woodman's still needs approval on a building permit, she said, but no application has been submitted yet.

"It's a very nice addition to the city," Miller said.

The employee-owned Woodman's Food Market has 12 stores, including Janesville, in Wisconsin and Illinois.