St. Croix Getting Burger King, New Grocery Store Early 2015

In the first quarter of 2015, Burger King will make a return on St. Croix and the grocery store chain Save-A-Lot will open its doors for the first time on the Island, both of them to be located at the Island Crossing Shopping Center, Caribbean Development Partners LLC has revealed.

According to Josh Tate, vice president and managing partner of the Caribbean Development Partners — the developer of the shopping center, an estimated 150 to 200 construction jobs will be created during the building process, and 30 to 40 permanent jobs once the grocery store and fast food restaurant open their doors.

The project, costing $4.5 million, already has financing in place.

Island Crossing Shopping Center is located on the Melvin Evans Highway, and the buildings to house the two businesses will be constructed at the front of Home Depot. Construction will commence before the end of 2014, Tate said.

With an “aggressive” construction schedule, Tate said he expects the businesses to open their doors six months after construction begins.

Burger King was once one of the favorite places to eat on St. Croix, with its last location being where IHOP now operates. However it’s the first time grocery store chain Save-A-Lot, which operates 1,300 stores nationwide, will be doing business in the Virgin Islands.

Save-A-Lot is described as “one of the nation’s leading extreme value, carefully selected assortment grocery chains,” delivering “discounts of up to 40 percent compared to conventional stores.”

Burger King is the second largest fast food chain in the world, with locations encompassing the world.

Tuesday’s statement revealed that Caribbean Development Partners will work with Honor Capital, which was described as a start-up firm formed in Missouri, and as a “private equity company, to bring economic opportunities and prosperity to returning military veterans.”

“I worked to secure the licencing and the franchise agreements through my company, at DCP,” Tate said, referring to Burger King and Save-A-Lot. “Honor Capital will put together the veterans groups that will own and operate those stores.”

This is Honor Capital’s first project,” Tate added. “They’re deploying their first capital in the V.I..”

In other businesses news, St. Croix Senator Sammuel Sanes said that he and some partners have been working hard to reopen the now shuttered Island Dairies, one of St. Croix most recognizable businesses, in 2015.