Facade Work Steams on for Whole Foods

The old facade for Genuardi's is being reduced to rubble at the Ellisburg Circle Shopping Center, the first major step in bringing Whole Foods to the center next year.

Workers have already stripped off decorative panels from the former entryways and torn down much of the old brick-and-stucco look across a huge swath of the west side of the center, which will eventually house the organic grocer, scheduled to open some time in the spring of 2014, according to Ellisburg Circle management.

When the old facade has been removed and replaced with the new-look Whole Foods facing, center management will turn things over to Whole Foods' construction crews, likely later this fall, to begin interior work on the 47,000-square-foot store.

Eventually, the entire center will take on the look coming for Whole Foods, though that work will run through the early part of 2014, officials said.