Vineyard City officials and Utah City developers, along with Lee's Marketplace and Associated Food Stores leaders, break ground on Bella's Market on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Vineyard.

Developers and city officials braved sub-freezing temperatures and wind gusts Wednesday morning to ceremoniously break ground on what stands to be Vineyard's first grocery store.

Bella's Market is being built in Utah City, an ambitious 700-acre master-planned community fronted by the Woodbury Corp. and Flagship Cos. that is in the early stages of development on the site of the former Geneva Steel Mill in Vineyard.

The grocery store, which will be supported and managed by Logan-based Lee's Marketplace through a partnership with Utah City, is one of the first amenities planned in Utah City.

And constructing it was high on the developer's priority list, said Abel Porter, the director of strategic initiatives for Utah City and an operating partner for Bella's Market.

"We truly did listen to the residents when thinking through how we were going to -- and when we were going to -- build the grocery store," Porter said. "In fact, as we were feeling it out for the last two years or 18 months or so, most experts in the industry would tell you that Vineyard is not ready to have its own grocery store yet, just from a population standpoint.

"Even though we were given that advice from a couple different sources, we still thought it was important enough to push it to the very front of the priority list in terms of building it and getting it open," he added. "We've had boots on the ground down there. We've heard everyone say that a grocery store in Vineyard would be super beneficial to their lives."

With a goal of opening by the end of the year, Bella's Market is poised to be the first grocery store on the west side of Interstate 15 in Vineyard, Orem or Provo, fit to serve a town that has skyrocketed in population from under 1,000 residents in 2014 to an estimated 15,000-plus residents in 2025.

"The people that have moved here have wanted a grocery store," Vineyard Mayor Julie Fullmer said. "And to be able to not only bring it to our community but have it be the second thing that's really coming up economically in the downtown is just setting Vineyard on such a powerful trajectory for raising up downtown, which is Utah City."

Lee's and its partner, Associated Foods Stores, have considered a move to Vineyard for the last five years, while Lee's has expanded to other locations on the Wasatch Front, including Salt Lake City and Herriman.

It was the rapid population growth, and the anticipated residential development at Utah City, that helped the sides move forward with the project, said Associated Foods Senior Vice President of Business Development Steve Miner.

"For a grocery to be successful, you have to have people, and you have to be able to meet the needs of those folks in the community that you're serving," Miner said. "Our interest in here vs. Orem ... we felt there was some distance that the folks in Vineyard and the future folks in Utah City would have to travel, and we just felt like there was a more convenient opportunity."

"It's been a great experience for us and we're excited to be a part of the Vineyard community," Lee's CEO Jonathan Badger added.

Aside from serving the entire Vineyard population, the store, located on 875 N. Main St., is intended to be accessible by foot for future Utah City residents, helping support the development's goal of being a walkable community.

The store itself, which is being designed by the architecture firm RDC, will have a unique exterior and interior design but will "maintain affordable grocery shopping," Porter said.

"While we will be a part of Lee's, and they'll be our operating partner, with all their awesome experience and culture that they'll be bringing within the store, the look and feel of the store will be completely different than a typical Lee's store," he said.

The project has completed its architectural and design phase, and a hole is being dug. Bella's Market is expected to start hiring employees in September.

In addition to the store, Utah City developers are close to opening their first residential building and are pushing forward other amenities, including a promenade, according to Porter.

"Bringing it all together and actually seeing the progress in real life and in real time has been awesome," he said.