One year after a three-alarm fire severely damaged the gourmet grocery store at Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue West, Pusateri’s president Frank Luchetta confirmed the company will be selling the site.

First Capital Realty Inc., responsible for the redevelopment of Yorkville Village and other grocery-anchored projects across Canada, has entered into an agreement to purchase the site alongside several adjacent properties for $63.2 million. The land acquisition includes the Avenue Road Car Wash, a building currently home to the Carlson Wagonlit Travel agency and an apartment building at 284 Lawrence Ave. W. 

The fine foods retailer is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and Luchetta has made assurances that the flagship store and car wash will remain on the site, as part of the deal. 

“I was able to negotiate a deal that secured the existence of Pusateri’s for a long period of time … that was the motivating factor,” said Luchetta.

The 35,000-square-foot building was gutted and rebuilt after the fire last year, and the company plans to reopen the store in the fall. 

“We wanted to secure the building the way it is, with the parking. It’s a brand new building. It would’ve been a shame to tear that facility down in the near future,” he said. Luchetta said he wanted to avoid incorporating the store into a redeveloped condo “at all costs.”

Jordan Robins, chief operating officer of First Capital Realty, emphatically stated that the company has no intentions of redeveloping the site at this point. “Our agreement constitutes a sale and leaseback to Pusateri’s,” said Robins. “We have no short term plans, or no plans really at all, to modify the site.”

But Luchetta admitted, “Everybody always knew it was a redevelopment type of corner” and noted the Avenue Road Avenue Study, which was approved by the City of Toronto, allows up to seven storeys on that main thoroughfare.

“That’s the vision that the city has. They want to develop that whole corridor,” he said.