By Scott Jenkins

Salisbury Post

EAST SPENCER — The Board of Aldermen approved a conditional use permit Monday that will allow grocery chain Aldi to expand its distribution warehouse on Old Union Church Road by 137,450 square feet.

The expansion will increase the size of Aldi’s operation there by nearly a third, and Aldi is “in dire need” of the space, warehouse manager Ryan Fritsch said during a public hearing.

“Business is going very well” for the company, which has stores in Salisbury and Kannapolis.

Aldi will add 3,000 square feet of office space, 62,100 square feet of freezer space and 72,350 square feet of dry warehouse space to the facility, bringing it to more than 530,000 square feet total on the 263 acre site.

Documents filed with the city say the current warehouse is valued at $26.7 million. Brett Hannaford of A.M. King Construction, the Charlotte contractor hired by Aldi, said the expansion will add around $8 million.

“It’s favorable for Aldi, they’re growing,” he said. “It’s favorable for the tax base of East Spencer.”

No one else spoke during the public hearing and aldermen approved the permit without comment.

In other business, alderman:

* Approved an application for a $296,600 Community Development Block Grant to help with the first phase of the town’s plan to revitalize the area around the Dunbar Center. The money, along with other grants and development funds the town hopes to obtain through other sources, would pay to buy a number of vacant lots and houses, demolish some dilapidated houses and rehabilitate others and install water and sewer lines.

* Approved a slate of fees the town will charge for administrative actions from making copies to dealing with bad checks to renting out municipal meeting rooms.

Contact Scott Jenkins at704-797-4248 or sjenkins @salisburypost.com.