Ernst Home Centers is moving from Carillon Square to The Family Center at Orem shopping center being constructed at 200 E. 1300 South.
The Orem Redevelopment Agency approved Ernst as a new tenant in the development last week. The home center store will join R.C. Willey Home Furnishings, Phar-Mor discount store, Toys "R" Us, Chili's Southwest Grill and Pacific Linen in The Family Center.Only one site in the center remains unleased, according to Hermes Associates. Hermes is currently negotiating with "several fine new concepts as well as new-to-Orem regional and national chains" interested in the 9,000-square-foot space, said Nick S. Vidalakis, chief executive officer for Hermes.
Ernst approached developers of the center and asked that "we make space for them," said Doug Holmberg, director of finance for Hermes Associates, one of the entities developing the Orem Family Center.
"We turned heaven and earth to try to accommodate that request," Holmberg said.
The developers relocated one planned tenant and acquired two additional pieces of property to make room for Ernst, Holmberg said.
Doug Newell, vice president of real estate for Ernst in Seattle, said the company will build a new prototype store at the site.
"Ernst has a long relationship with the city of Orem, but the store (at Carillon Square) is now undersize and a substandard facility to adequately serve the community," Newell said. "We just need a much larger facility with more parking and more space to merchandise the products we're carrying in the 1990s. We didn't want to leave the area, and the opportunity to move across the street came up."