The Old Cardinal Grocery Building on East Washington Is About to Sell Bread and Milk Again

"Where else can you go around there for bread, milk or something quick?" City Commissioner Dave Waddington asked that in early September. He was talking to the Sandusky Register about the brick building at 317 E. Washington St., near Meigs Street and the Sandusky Police Station. Since late 2017 the honest answer has been "not downtown." That's about to change, and the reason is a little surprising. Downtown Sandusky is getting a grocery store back because the more ambitious plan for the building cost too much to build.

The DG Market logo is already up on the building's exterior. Work inside to get the space ready for products picked up over the summer.

Forty-two years of groceries, then an empty storefront

Kreimes Cardinal Grocery opened on East Washington Street in July 1975, and Bob Kreimes worked there from the first day. Management announced the store would close on Dec. 1, 2017. The company's statement thanked customers for "the friendship and the loyalty" they had shown over 42 and a half years, as the Sandusky Register reported that November.

The building has been vacant ever since. The Register noted that for long stretches there seemed to be no activity at the site for months, sometimes years. Dave Yanko, managing partner of the developer Collective Projects, told the paper that after Cardinal closed, downtown Sandusky became a U.S. Department of Agriculture-designated low-access area for fresh food, with the nearest option more than 2 miles away.

For downtown residents that meant a car trip for a gallon of milk. The first plan to fill the building didn't aim to solve that.

The food hall plan, in the order it happened

Collective Projects bought the property in 2019 and pitched it as the Market Street Food Hall. The 2021 plan, described in The Advertiser-Tribune, called for food stalls, a cocktail bar and a cafe, plus a public piazza and a patio. In February 2022, Yanko told the Sandusky Register the layout would have a central bar and six vented stalls for regional chefs. Fish-and-chips, fried rice and poke were among the vendors already committed.

Here's how the plan changed over time:

By January 2023 the concept was called Starbird Yard. It still had six restaurant stalls and a bar, and the planned patio had grown to 9,000 square feet. That same month, the Sandusky Register reported that commissioners had taken back the $139,000 grant earmark. The project team couldn't give firm start and end dates or a settled funding plan. According to a 2026 editor's note, the project never received any of that $139,000.

The math that turned a food hall into a grocery store

Yanko told the Register in September why the food hall was dropped:

"Between 2020 and 2022, estimated construction costs more than doubled, driving a roughly $2.1 million project to over $4.5 million. Ultimately, financing it became infeasible, and we had to pivot."

He put the total investment in the DG Market at $1.8 million. That's less than the food hall's original $2.1 million estimate and about 40 percent of the $4.5 million figure that sank it. A grocery tenant needs a sales floor, coolers and shelving. A six-stall food hall with vented kitchens, a central bar and a large patio needs much more construction.

The numbers still moved this time. Yanko said the project went into spring on budget, then picked up nearly $120,000 in new costs once contractors were finalized and crews found new problems on site. Collective Projects has applied to the city's loan program for substantial development projects to help close that gap.

The smaller plan also lines up with what the building did for four decades. Yanko called a grocery store "the natural alternative" to the original plan. He said the tenant has made a commitment that will last at least 10 years. A food hall would have given downtown somewhere new to eat out. A grocery store gives back the bread and milk Waddington was asking about.

What a DG Market carries that a regular Dollar General doesn't

If you know Dollar General only from its standard stores, the format is a little different. The Register describes DG Markets as usually bigger stores built around:

• Groceries, including fresh food. Fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy.
• Everyday essentials. Non-perishables, cleaning products, health and beauty items, and seasonal goods.

The format is designed for convenience, a quick stop for communities that are far from the big grocery chains. It isn't a full supermarket, so plan on keeping your big weekly shop wherever you do it now. What changes is the in-between run, the one you'd make for eggs, produce or a missing dinner ingredient. Once the doors open, that trip can start and end downtown.

Sandusky already has a DG Market at 1701 Tiffin Ave. on U.S. 6. It's open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, according to the Register. If you want a preview of the format before the Washington Street store opens, that's the closest one.

Before you plan your first trip

The Register's Sept. 3 story said the people behind the project expected the store to open "within a few weeks this fall." Dollar General's spokeswoman didn't respond to the paper's request for more details. As of mid-October, Dollar General's Sandusky store directory lists four Sandusky stores: 1701 Tiffin Ave., 1622 Cleveland Rd., 1601 Martins Point Rd. and 420 E. Perkins Ave. The East Washington Street address isn't on the list yet.

A few practical points for the next few weeks:

1. Check the directory before you go. When 317 E. Washington St. shows up on Dollar General's locator with its own hours, the store is open for business.
2. Treat the hours as a guess for now. The Register expects the downtown store to keep a seven-day schedule similar to the Tiffin Avenue store's 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The store itself hasn't confirmed that.
3. Look for the sign near Meigs Street. The building sits near the Sandusky Police Station, and the DG Market logo is already on the outside.

Once it opens, it will be downtown Sandusky's only grocery store, in the building that was its last one.

If you own a home within walking distance of East Washington Street and wonder how a filled storefront on your block fits into what your home is worth today, Marcus Hammer will give you a straight answer based on recent local sales. Get a Free Home Valuation, and you'll have the number in hand whenever you decide to use it.