Great Harvest Bread Co. opening second Rochester location
When we reported on Moka’s plans to open a fourth location on Commerce Drive Nortwehst in partnership with First Alliance Credit Union, their potential neighbors weren’t known at the time, save for a “bistro/sandwich shop.”
On Wednesday, First Alliance announced the next piece of the puzzle was filled.
Great Harvest Bread Co. will occupy one of the four spots in the First Alliance space, the two businesses announced Tuesday. It’ll be Great Harvest’s second location in Rochester, after first entering the Med City in 2004 with their storefront on the corner of North Broadway and Seventh Street Northwest.
The new building, currently named First Alliance Commons according to a press release, is halfway through naming tenants in their common area. The building will be anchored by First Alliance’s fourth Rochester branch. The complex is scheduled to be completed and open in the coming months.
RST to explore possibility of a western hub
Rochester International Airport is looking to add service to the west, and on Thursday, they announced they moved one step closer to making the plan a reality.
In a press release, RST said it received $750,000 in grant money from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the purpose of recruiting new nonstop service to a “western hub” from RST. This specific type of grant (Small Community Air Service Development Program) was awarded to RST in 2012, which allowed the airport to recruit Delta to add a nonstop route to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
It’s unclear what “western hub” would be chosen, or even what airlines would compete for the new opening. The press release says the grant money doesn’t necessarily guarantee a new air route, but will aid the airport in improving their pitch to prospective airlines.
“Airport officials are continually in discussion with many airlines about adding new service at RST,” the release stated. “Ultimately the airlines make the decisions on what routes they will serve.”
Here’s a list of “hubs” on or near the west coast for the three major airlines (United, American, Delta), possibly a list of cities to watch:
Los Angeles (LAX): all three
Phoenix (PHX): American
San Francisco (SFO): United
Denver (DEN): United
Seattle (SEA): Delta
Salt Lake City (SLC): Delta
Currently, RST offers Delta nonstop flights to Minneapolis and Atlanta, while American and United offer nonstop service to Chicago. There is no timeline for any further announcements, although it took about two years from receiving the 2012 grant for service to Atlanta to begin.
Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.
