Costco announces official opening date for Ann Arbor area store

The store just south of the city limits of Ann Arbor will open July 26.

Costco is building a 148,000-square-foot store with 720 parking spaces and a gasoline station, located on a 17-acre site in the Airport Plaza industrial park near the corner of State and Ellsworth behind Tyner’s Furniture store.

Signs at the site read “Coming Soon: Opening Summer 2012,” and the company recently posted the official opening date on its website.

Costco has not announced its hiring plans and there don’t appear to be any online job postings yet.

Final plans for the project received approval from the Pittsfield Township Planning Commission in early August, and local developer Jake Haas sold the land to Costco Wholesale Corp. in September for $7.34 million, according to township documents.

Crews started demolition of eight office buildings in late September, and construction moved quickly this winter thanks in part to favorable weather. The contractor for the project is Seattle-based Jackson Dean Construction.

The building’s steel structure was erected in December and a helicopter hoisted 14 HVAC units onto the roof in February.

Work even continued at the site in 0 degree Fahrenheit weather one day in January.