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Starbucks coming to Franz’s Trail

A third Starbucks location will cater to Whistler’s residents and guests by the end of the year. Nestled in the Franz’s Trail development, the trendy coffee shop will be just one of a host of new stores servicing the Creekside area.

A third Starbucks location will cater to Whistler’s residents and guests by the end of the year.

Nestled in the Franz’s Trail development, the trendy coffee shop will be just one of a host of new stores servicing the Creekside area.

"Intrawest does a lot of projects with Starbucks," said Bryan Hawkey, development manager for Intrawest Resort Development Group.

Hawkey pointed out that Starbucks shops are part of other Intrawest developments in the U.S.

"It is a sort of partnership."

The coffee shop is just one of a handful of stores slated for Intrawest’s Franz’s Trail development.

The company is still in the process of finalizing negotiations for all the stores in the development.

But, along with Starbucks, Hawkey revealed that there was also a Bank of Nova Scotia going into the complex as well as a kids clothing store and an Internet boutique and film processing store.

In addition, Whistler’s Other Video is moving across the road from its current location opposite Boston Pizza to Franz’s Trail.

The main cornerstones of the shopping cluster are a liquor store and a full service grocery store with a meat department and a bakery. The grocery store will be owned by Jesa Foods, the same company that owns Food Plus. Once the grocery store is operational in Franz’s Trail, Food Plus will revert back to a convenience store.

The liquor store and the grocery store will be positioned around a community square. Hawkey said the square will look like the Village Square near Citta’s and the Grocery Store but it will not be as big.

"It will have a community local feel to it," he said, adding that there may be some public art in the square.

A 2,500 square foot restaurant with a sizeable patio will also be built on the northeast corner of Highway 99 and Lake Placid Road.

Although Hawkey could not mention the names of the stores while negotiations are still ongoing, he described the basic concepts for the remaining commercial space.

There will be a fast-food component, a casual clothing store, a sandwich/deli shop and some office space.

"A lot of (the office space) Intrawest is taking itself," he said.

The development of Franz’s Trail was put on hold after the first phase in the uncertain aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.

"It’ll be great to finish this area off," he said.

Now that the ski season is drawing to a close, work in the area has begun.

The Franz’s Trail development is just one part of Intrawest’s extensive projects in the Creekside area.

The company is also building a multi-level underground parking lot as well as a highway underpass linking the east and west sides of Creekside.

The work is slated for completion by the beginning of the 2003-04 ski season.