The Giant Eagle on Route 8 in Shaler is preparing for a big move across the street.

The Shaler Planning Commission recently gave preliminary approval for a new 95,000-square-foot Giant Eagle next to the Walgreens on Butler Plank Road at Route 8.

Giant Eagle has agreed to buy 11 of the 13 acres Walgreens owns along Butler Plank Road for the store.

The current Giant Eagle is 68,000 square feet and has 312 parking spaces. The new store would have more than 600 parking spaces, almost 150 spaces more than the township code requires. The lack of parking has been a problem at the current store.

The store would have a bakery, deli and drive-through pharmacy and be similar in size and services to the Giant Eagle on Route 228 in Seven Fields.

"It's going to be your basic type of Giant Eagle, but bigger and better," said Phil Bishop, of Echo Real Estate.

Thomas Montgomery, chairman of the planning commission, expressed concern that the township got rid of a warehouse with a tin roof that sat on the land and replaced it with soil. Paving it with asphalt, he worried, is not much of an improvement.

But Kevin Creagh, township engineer, said the developers on the project have been open to balancing commercial and green concerns, proposing a rain garden below the surface of the parking lot to reduce runoff and allowing the water to absorb back into the ground.

The developers said they are committed to alleviating traffic congestion at the entrances to the site and Route 8. A traffic light is planned along Butler Plank Road to control access in and out of the Giant Eagle. A traffic study is being reviewed by PennDOT.

Several Shaler Township commissioners and residents have expressed concerns about traffic, which Montgomery said will be addressed.

The Giant Eagle still needs a second OK from the planning commission, which could come as early as Feb. 16. The proposal would then to go the township commissioners for final approval.

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