RARITAN TWP. -- The Costco that's being built off of Route 31 will likely open this fall, according to the project manager at the site.
"We don't have a set grand opening yet," said Trey Herron of Ledcor Construction, on Thursday. "There's some design stuff we're still working on, but we're thinking fall for the opening."
Marketing representatives from Costco are contacting employers in the area to arrange summertime visits where employees can sign up for Costco memberships.
Area residents are likely to have an advance signup opportunity as well. "We usually set up an office for memberships before a store opens," Herron said, noting that no date has been set for that yet.
It's early stages in the construction process. "Foundations are going in, we've got the masonry started, and we're working on the underground plumbing," Herron said.
The store will have a bakery and also food preparation areas, so "we need to have drain lines in," Herron said.
Steel beams will attach to the foundations set in the ground, and once they're in place slabs will go in. "The steel should start in the next few weeks or so," Herron said.
This is the third store Herron has built for Costco, though he said Ledcor has built hundreds of them. The stores usually cover 145,000- to 150,000-square-feet and this one is no different, he said.
This store won't have a liquor section, but as approved by the township planning board in 2013, it will include a gas station. The plan calls for 5.5 acres to be deeded to the township, including an athletic field and a 110-space parking lot across Junction Road from Hunterdon Central High School.
If the store opens this fall, that will be about a year later than originally planned when site preparation work was underway in February 2015. Site preparation was winding up this past fall, but construction did not get started until late spring. Until the new store is complete, the Costco closest to Flemington is almost 17 miles away in Bridgewater.
Sallie Graziano may be reached at sgraziano@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SallieGraziano. Find The Hunterdon County Democrat on Facebook.