By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

(Aug. 13, 2026) The long-awaited Giant supermarket under construction at Coastal Square is expected to open its doors by the end of the year, while its planned apartment complex remains delayed, according to the developer.

Interior work has begun on the roughly 60,000-square-foot grocery store at the intersection of Routes 50 and 589. Construction of surrounding retail buildings is also progressing, and those buildings are expected to be roofed in the next six weeks.

Site work remains ongoing throughout the development, according to Zach Busby, a spokesman for developer Capano Management.

Busby said signed leases are in place for the Dash In and Wendy’s pad sites, while the developer remains in advanced discussions with an automotive service provider and an international coffee company.

Capano has publicly advertised Starbucks, Dash In, Wendy’s, and Valvoline as tenants at Coastal Square.

Five spaces in the center’s inline retail buildings have also been reserved, Busby said, with additional interest in the remaining storefronts.

The supermarket opening would mark a major milestone for a project that has moved through county, state, and federal reviews over the course of several years. The Worcester County Commissioners approved the original shopping center site plan in late 2023.

Plans expanded in 2024 when the developer promised to add 168 apartments to the western side of the 49-acre property. Under the original plan, that portion of the site had been left undeveloped.

Federal environmental review continued into 2025 because construction would affect nearly an acre of nontidal wetlands and an agricultural drainage ditch.

Roadwork began last fall. The project includes widening and resurfacing portions of Route 50, stormwater improvements, and converting the intersection of Routes 50 and 589 into a four-way junction that extends Route 589 directly into Coastal Square.

The State Highway Administration also said the project would include removing the traffic signal at nearby Brader Lane, the Route 50 entrance leading toward McDonald’s.

The residential portion, however, has fallen behind schedule. In late 2024, the developer said construction of a planned apartment complex could begin by the end of 2025 and would last about 14 months.

More than a year later, the apartments are still wrapped up in the county approval process. Plans call for 168 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units spread across seven three-story apartment buildings.

Busby said that portion cannot advance until tenants have committed to additional commercial pad sites, leaving the developer without a construction schedule, or projected opening date.

That stipulation comes from Worcester County, which modified its zoning code in 2023 to say that multi-family units in a highway-fronted commercial district require up to 65% or more of the land area to be improved with commercial uses, according to planning director Jennifer Keener.

Earlier plans called for about 120,000 square feet of commercial space, with Giant occupying roughly half of that, along with additional storefronts and freestanding businesses along Route 50.

Samuel Bowen Boulevard is also planned to extend west from the neighboring Ocean Landings shopping center into Coastal Square.