• Well Dillons isn’t the only grocery in town that has a major project in the works. As we reported in April, the Hy-Vee at Clinton Parkway and Kasold has plans for an expansion. The company has pulled a $2-million building permit and work is underway to add about 14,000 square feet to the eastern end of the store. In addition, the existing store also will be redone.

“It will be an entirely different store,” said Andrew Yochum, store director.

Yochum said the new store will include twice as much space that is devoted to fresh produce.

“It will be a huge emphasis on fresh,” Yochum said. “We’re very into healthy living and we want to help make that easier for our customers.”

In addition, the store also will include a new sushi department, a Caribou Coffee shop, and a larger customer service area that will have expanded “money services,” such as money orders, wire transfers, a variety of prepaid cards, and other services that you would find at a financial institution.

Plus, the store will just have an entirely new decor. It will be the first remodel for the store since it opened 16 years ago. Yochum said the average life of a store is about 15 to 20 years.

He said the project is expected to be done around Thanskgiving. The store will remain open during construction.

• The Hy-Vee on Sixth Street will be getting a new neighbor. Plans have been filed with the city’s planning department for a new restaurant to take over the space of a long vacant dry-cleaner spot that is on the northeastern end of the shopping center attached to Hy-Vee. Word is that a Little Caesars pizza shop will be the tenant. The restaurant will have a a drive up window. The window won’t be a true drive-thru because you won’t be able to place an order at the window. But you will be able to call ahead for a pizza and pick it up without getting out of the car. No word yet on when the store may open.

• A significant streak has come to an end at Lawrence City Hall. For 371 consecutive months — dating all back to January 1980 — the city of Lawrence has issued at least one building permit for new residential construction. That streak ended in January. No permits for single family, duplex or apartments were issued by the city during the month. Builders, though, should take some solace. It took both a bad economy and a blizzard to bring the streak to an end. It also is hard to read much into what this one month blip means for residential construction in 2011. Home building totals were up about 24 percent for 2010 compared to 2009. New single family and duplex construction totaled 156 permits, but that was well below the 300 plus housing starts that were common during the 1990s and into the 2000s.

• There’s a chance to catch glimpses of Lawrence and Kansas University on national television tonight. The city and the campus will be featured on Fox College Sports’ new show called My Campus. The show will debut tonight at 8 p.m. on Fox College Sports. The half-hour show will feature interviews with KU football great Gale Sayers, Coach Turner Gill and will include reports from student correspondent from KU’s journalism school.

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