GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The Grand Rapids Planning Commission on Thursday approved a special land use permit for CAVA, a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain, to build a restaurant with a pickup window at the Shops at Centerpoint shopping center.
The proposed restaurant, the chain’s first in West Michigan, would be located at 3503 28th St. SE on a 1.89-acre site that is used as an overflow parking lot within the shopping center.
The site contains 182 parking spaces and is bordered by Chase Bank and BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse. The permit was requested by Jason Blum of Bridge33 Capital, the Seattle-based real estate investment firm that owns the Shops at CenterPoint.
Plans call for construction of a 2,449-square-foot restaurant offering dine-in, carryout and pickup services. According to project documents, the restaurant would operate daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Unlike a traditional drive-thru, the pickup lane would not include a menu board, speaker box or an on-site ordering station. Customers would place and pay for orders online and receive a pickup time.
Upon arrival, customers would drive directly to the pickup window, collect their order and leave. Because orders would already be prepared and paid for, interactions at the window are expected to last about 20 to 30 seconds, according to project documents.
CAVA has three Michigan locations in Detroit, Novi and Canton.
Asked when the Grand Rapids restaurant is expected to open, CAVA spokesperson Emma Vogt said the company does not have “any updates to share publicly at this time.”
According to its website, CAVA was founded in 2010 and has more than 400 restaurants across the U.S.
Dining and Cooking