“Finally!” said Karen Daly.
A collective sigh of relief can be heard throughout Hutto, as complaints have finally been answered.
”I want to be able to shop in Hutto,” said Mayor Debbie Holland.
Daly added, “I know they all think, ‘Ugh! Why do I have to drive all the way somewhere else’ even though it’s not that far?’”
Holland added, “Where’s the H-E-B? Where’s the H-E-B?” She continued, “This is a decision that has been a long time in the making.”
An H-E-B, on the corner of SH 130 and Gattis School Road, will be the city's first-ever grocery store.
The 120,000 square foot building will be complete with a drive-thru pharmacy, a convenience store, and a sit-down restaurant.
”Even though we’ve waited a long time for it – there will be some aspects of it that will be a first for H-E-B,” said the mayor.
To accommodate an expected increase in traffic, there will be a back route behind the grocery store to 685.
Daly added, “And that route will be very important for our residents, because that means they don’t have to get on the 130 frontage roads in order to shop at the H-E-B.”
City leaders say H-E-B has owned the land for about a decade.
Mayor Holland said, “People then wanted a grocery store and wanted H-E-B.”
So, why are plans now moving forward?
Daly continued, “We also had an incentive agreement that was about to expire, so they would have lost all of those incentives had they not come to the table.”
City leaders say collecting a sales tax won't be the only benefit.
Holland said, “I think they're just kind of the tip of the iceberg and we’re going to see a lot of retailers start coming in this direction.”
For now, it's a step in making Hutto a better place to call home.
Daly concluded, “A grocery store has been the number one requested item from our residents for a long time now.”