Members of Genesee County's law enforcement community were at Batavia Towne Center Saturday for the annual Stuff the Cruiser event.

Shoppers are asked during the event to donate gifts that will be distributed for Christmas to families in Genesee County.

Last year, the event assisted 450 local families.

Officers said that by mid-afternoon, in sunny weather, this year appeared to be a banner year for donations.

At least one question that readers and The Batavian had about the new electric vehicle charging stations on the west side of town has been answered: they are open for business.

Two Teslas were captured in action this weekend at the station on Veterans Memorial Drive in Batavia. Emails and a phone call this past week to Lisa Appelbaum, project developer of Charging Infrastructure, were not returned, nor were emails to Tesla's Press Office returned for comment. 

Photo by Howard Owens.

Tesla, apparently, has installed 12 electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lot of Batavia Towne Center off Veterans Memorial Drive.

Neither Tesla, which makes electric cars, nor COR Development, owner of the shopping center, responded to requests for additional information.

The Tesla website lists Batavia as a future location for electric vehicle charging stations but says the stations won't open until the second quarter of 2023.

Photo by Howard Owens, taken on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Gap Inc. told The Batavian that 30 to 50 employees are expected to be hired at this location.

The Batavia store adds to the company's Western New York footprint that currently has five stores in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area and four in the Rochester area.

"Our brand offers on-trernd, affordable and high quality products that we now are excited to make available for families in the Batavia community," the spokesperson added.

----------------

Two new stores – Old Navy and Ulta Beauty – will be coming to the Towne Center at Batavia on Veterans Memorial Drive within the next few months.

Town of Batavia Building Inspector Dan Lang confirmed at tonight’s Town Board meeting that the merchandising giants are expected to open at the retail hub this spring.

He said that the Old Navy clothing store at 4222 Veterans Memorial Drive will feature 14,588 square feet of retail space, while the Ulta Beauty cosmetics store at 4192 Veterans Memorial Drive will have 10,723 square feet of retail space.

The Old Navy store is taking space formerly used by Bed Bath and Beyond.

Searches on the companies’ websites reveal that Old Navy, part of Gap Inc., is advertising for part-time brand associates and Ulta Beauty is advertising for part-time beauty advisors at Towne Center at Batavia.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in San Francisco, Old Navy has approximately 1,106 stores worldwide. Its total revenue in 2019 was $4 billion. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its flagship stores, located in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Manila, and Mexico City.

In business for more than 30 years, Ulta Beauty has approximately 1,200 stores in all 50 states and, according to its website, has created more than 22,000 new jobs since 2015. Ninety-two percent of its 45,000 store, distribution center and corporate associates are women. Its headquarters are in Bolingbrook, Ill.

The Batavian has reached out via email to Old Navy and Ulta Beauty media relations for additional information.

Marshalls, one of the nation’s largest off-price retailers with more than 900 stores currently operating in 43 states and Puerto Rico, will open a new store in Batavia on August 21, 2014. Marshalls shoppers in Batavia will find top-quality, on-trend fashions and the most sought-after designer brand names at unbelievable prices in ladies fashion, shoes, accessories, men’s apparel, home, juniors, kids apparel and accessories, luggage, beauty and more!

“The new Batavia store will be stocked with a new, fresh assortment of the designer and brand-name merchandise that shoppers love, every single week,” said Richard Sherr, president of Marshalls. “Our buyers are fashion experts with a keen sense of style and are passionate about finding the most coveted merchandise for our shoppers for so much less!”

GRAND OPENING

Join us on August 21st from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. to be part of the grand opening excitement and find the amazing deals for the whole family. Enjoy the festivities including giveaways, gift card prizes, and more. 

STORE FACTS & FEATURES

·      Location: Towne Center at Batavia

·      24,479 square feet

·      Regular store hours:

o   9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday

o   11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays

·      Designer fashion at unbelievable prices

·      THE CUBE: A hip, in-store boutique of contemporary fashions

·      Shoe Mega Shop: Featuring designer and brand-name shoes for the whole family

·      Bright and fresh in-store experience every time you shop

·      Single queue checkout for faster shopping

With over 10,000 new items arriving to the Batavia store every week, it’s like entering a whole new store with every visit. Unlike department store buyers who shop seasonally, our buyers are in the market weekly looking for merchandise opportunities. They work with more than 16,000 brands and designers annually in over 60 countries to offer a mix of top-quality, fashionable pieces from the most sought-after designer brands as well as unexpected treasures from around the world.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

In addition to providing a new shopping option for local residents, the new store will add approximately 60 full- and part-time jobs to the area.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

In celebration of its new Batavia location, Marshalls will contribute to the local community by presenting a $5,000 donation to Catholic Charities at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 21st 7:30 a.m. Marshalls also has national and local partnerships with charitable organizations around the country including JDRF and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

This morning contractors working on the former Lowe's location, getting the remaining space ready for new retail stores, apparently forgot to turn the water off to the sprinkler system before deciding to disconnect a pipe. The pipe needed to be relocated to make room for a new entrance to the new store. Workers undid two bolts and whoosh! An explosion of water. Perhaps as much as 1,000 gallons spilled out before the water was shut off. The break caused the water flow alarm to go off resulting in a response from the Town of Batavia Fire Department. Volunteer firefighters grabbed squeegees and brooms and helped clear the water out from inside the building.

Batavia's Bed, Bath & Beyond, damaged by fire Jan. 27, has been cleared of all its stock and today work crews were pulling from the store every last bit of fixture, shelving and even wall.

Smoke odor still permeated the entry way.

A manager said she doesn't know when the store will reopen. She said she didn't know when new stock would arrive. Asked if employees had been offered jobs at other locations, she said we would have to call the corporate office.

We called the corporate office this afternoon and have not yet gotten a response.

Within minutes of the fire call about a blaze in the bedding department of Bed, Bath & Beyond, in Batavia Towne Center, the store was filled with heavy black smoke that was roiling out of the front and back doors.

The visibility was low, making it difficult for the first firefighters on scene to get to the fire location.

"There was heavy smoke, but once the crew got in there they confirmed a working fire," said Town of Batavia Fire's 1st Assistant Chief Dan Coffey.

Much of the bedding department was destroyed by fire. The rest of the store's inventory and fixtures suffered heavy smoke and water damage.

The store's sprinkler system did activate, which Coffey said helped suppress the fire, but it took firefighters to actually knock down the flames. The rest of the next couple of hours on scene was spent clearing out smoke from Bed, Bath & Beyond and Petco.

"We got a quick knock down and then we were trying to clear smoke and improve the visibility of what we were doing," Coffey said.

There were employees -- Coffey didn't know how many -- who were evaluated for possible smoke inhalation.

Both stores remain closed.

"The fire investigation has already started and there's significant fire, smoke and water damage in there, so I imagine it's going to be some time (before Bed, Bath & Beyond reopens)," Coffey said.

Coffey described the bedding fire as pretty hot, with the material able to pack a heavy fire load.

"If you've been in there, you've seen, the bedding is stacked from floor to ceiling on those storage racks, so there's a tremendous amount of heat," Coffey said. "It's certainly a concern for us."

Adding to the fire-fighting difficulties was the icy weather. The air was biting and the fire hydrants frozen shut.

Three tankers from neighboring departments were requested to the scene, something that wouldn't have been necessary, Coffey said, if the hydrants hadn't frozen.

Assisting Town of Batavia at the scene were City of Batavia, Alexander, Elba, Oakfield, East Pembroke and Darien.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Investigators are conducting interviews, examining the physical evidence and it's possible store surveillance tapes may provide a clue to the cause.

"It's way to early," Coffey said soon after the smoke had cleared. "We're trying to talk to employees who were in the area at the time and try to determine the cause."

UPDATE 11:47 p.m.: Investigators have been on scene through the evening and into the night. There is no definitive cause, officials say. The Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation.

(Initial Report)

The front door soon after the fire was pronounced knocked down with the store still filled with heavy black smoke. Normally, you would be able to see into the store from this angle. Pictured, East Pemborke's Stephen Smelski.

Heavy smoke at the back of the building.

A frozen fire hydrant.

A Town of Batavia volunteer, Mike Jones, prepares Ladder 25 for extension of the platform.

Firefighter Scott Maloy shortly after exiting the building.

A firefighter tries to get one of the frozen hydrants going.

Firefighters at the back of the building.

Smoke being cleared from the storage room.

A firefighter on the roof of Bed, Bath & Beyond. Pictured, Jason Holman.

Firefighter Andrew Mullen waiting by the back door for other crew members who will head back in to make further checks on the fire scene, with most of the smoke cleared from the store.

East Pembroke's engine in front of the store as crews begin to roll up hose.

A subdivision of Batavia Towne Center to make way for a Kohl's Department Store was approved by the Town of Batavia Planning Board on Tuesday night.

The subdivision is necessary, according to Kate Johnson, of COR Development (top photo) because Kohl's needs its building on its own parcel for financing, tax and insurance purposes.

Kohl's will own its building, but COR will continue to own the land.

A subdivision carves a parcel of land from an existing parcel to make a new parcel with its own tax ID number.

Kohl's is planning 56,883-square-foot building roughly in the area of the former Lowe's garden center.

Johnson also revealed that Marshall's is planning a store next to Dick's Sporting Goods and said a fourth store is planned for the former Lowe's space, but said she can't mention the name of the store.

Previously, it was reported that the discount chain 5 Below was planning a store for the location.

Town officials are also considering a sidewalk for pedestrians that would connect Batavia Towne Center and Batavia Downs as well as an extension of Richmond Avenue through to Veterans Memorial Drive.

The subdivision would make it possible for Kohl's Department Store to own its own property inside the shopping center, much like Target does now.

Kohl's would be purchasing the parcel from COR Development.

In June, the Genesee County Economic Development Center Board approved $1.8 million in new tax abatements for COR (on top of the $4.6 million in tax breaks COR received from GCEDC in 2006), ostensibly to attract new businesses that provide goods or services not readily available in Genesee County.

Kohl's is a department store chain that sells furniture, clothing, bed and bath items and other general merchandise.

The store will be located where Lowe's once had its garden center, just south of the new Dick's Sporting Goods.

To the north of Dick's will be a Five Below and possibly Marshall's; both are discount retailers.

In order for Kohl's to own its own parcel, the property currently owned by COR must be subdivided.

All subdivisions must go through a public hearing, which is a chance for the public to learn the facts of the project relevant to the subdivision and comment on the issue.

The same process was used to subdivide Batavia Towne Center for Target. A portion of the tax breaks secured by COR in 2006 are now applied to the Target property.

While it's possible for Kohl's to apply to transfer tax abatements received by COR to the new parcel, Rachael Tabelski, director of marketing and communications for GCEDC, said the agency has yet to receive an application for the tax abatements from Kohl's.

The hearing will be held at Batavia Town Hall, 3833 W. Main Street Road, Batavia, at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 7. Written comments will be accepted prior to that date.