Discount grocery store chain Lidl is planning a 36,000-square-foot store off 17th Street in Wilmington, according to site plans.

Lidl U.S. Operations LLC is listed on the plans for a store that would be built at 4301 S. 17th St. and serve as the anchor tenant for a commercial development called Arbor Commons. The plans were submitted to the city of Wilmington planning staff and uploaded Wednesday to the city's project tracking website. 

Efforts to reach a Lidl representative were not immediately successful Wednesday afternoon, and the company typically does not comment on proposed stores.

The chain, founded in Germany, is a competitor of another European native chain, Aldi, and both companies have been proposing stores or are in the midst of building them throughout Brunswick and New Hanover counties. That includes an Aldi set to be under construction soon at 3701 S. College Road within a 2-minute walk of Arbor Commons.

In October, Texas-based investment firm Leon Capital Group bought the 10 acres at John Barry Drive and 4301 S. 17th St., where the Lidl-anchored mixed-use project is planned, for $2.6 million.

In addition to the Lidl, Arbor Commons would also include a 10,300-square-foot structure for retail tenants and a 45,000-square-foot office building.

"Our marketing efforts continue and are starting to bear fruit," said Nicholas Silivanch, referring to space in the additional buildings, on Wednesday afternoon.

Silivanch is a partner and vice president of retail sales and leasing at Eastern Carolinas Commercial Real Estate, the company in charge of leasing for Arbor Commons.

According to the city's project tracking website, a review of the Lidl component by the city's Technical Review Committee is expected to take place in December.