Kroger delays store construction across Cincinnati region

Lots of residents in Green and Colerain townships have been wondering the same thing: "When is work going to start on our new Kroger Marketplace?"

Good question. Officials in both townships would like an answer, too.

Both communities are slated for new Kroger stores, and company representatives have been vague or unresponsive when asked when construction will start.

Meanwhile, across town in Anderson Township, plans for a store expansion there are on hold. 

In Colerain, the Kroger Co. plans a Kroger Marketplace on Springdale Road. The company said it was building a 135,000-square-foot store with a Kroger fuel center on the property where a McDonald’s once stood. The property is home to a Fifth Third Bank and a strip of retail stores across the rear of the site. The bank and the businesses would be eliminated by the grocery store.

The plan includes a bank with drive-thru windows incorporated into the store and required buying a number of houses on Yellowstone Drive behind the site. Officials said the new grocery represented $25 million in new investment in the township and would retain 140 jobs and would generate 100 new jobs when it opens.

In Green Township, Kroger plans to build a Marketplace location across the parking lot from its existing store at 5830 Harrison Ave. The new store will sit on the large empty parcel next to the Cinemark movie theater. Green Township officials said the new store would be roughly 124,000 square feet in size.

The project also features an expanded fuel center. Kroger’s existing store on Harrison Avenue is about 71,000 square feet.

Kroger announced the new Green Township store in 2015 and Colerain in 2014. Both stores were set to begin construction in 2016, but nothing has happened.

Kroger has been tight-lipped about when or if construction could start. Patty Leesemann, a spokeswoman for the company, said Kroger reported a "reallocation of capital" in April, which resulted in a companywide slowdown of its new store plans.

"We are currently assessing capital projects and have an obligation to determine how and where to allocate resources in ways that will best serve our customers, associates, and communities while also driving long-term growth," her statement said.

"We don’t have a timeline on new store projects," she said, including all new store projects in this region. Leesemann said the Beckett Ridge store in West Chester will have some preliminary site work conducted later this year, but there is no timeline for construction or completion on that store, either.

One exception: A store already under construction in Union, Kentucky, is scheduled to open Aug. 24, according to Leesemann.

The Anderson Kroger, at the key intersection of Five Mile Road and Beechmont Avenue in Anderson Towne Center, was supposed to be expanded by almost 50 percent, into the largest in the nation at 155,000 square feet, by this summer. Instead, work stopped after demolition had been completed on the adjacent property and the back entrance to the east side of the center was closed.

"They kept telling us, 'We’re starting any day,' " Anderson Trustee Andrew Pappas said. "It kind of put us in a pickle. Now we have a big, empty lot in the middle of our town center."

After Trustee Josh Gerth wrote a letter to Kroger leaders, the company agreed this week to finish work on the site. Kroger is adding a new entrance on Wolfangel Road and preparing the out-parcels where the Currito and Eagle restaurants already have deals to locate, Pappas said.

"We don’t have it in writing but they’ve said within a few weeks they’re going to start back up" on site development, he said. "Kroger has agreed to do the site but not the store."

Leesemann didn't return a call Friday seeking comment on the Anderson location.

In March, the company reported identical-store sales excluding fuel rose 1 percent during the fiscal year ending Jan. 28 but actually declined 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter. Kroger's razor-thin 0.1 percent gain in its third quarter was its 52nd consecutive quarter of identical store sales increases.

The slowdown in construction comes as the Downtown Cincinnati-based supermarket chain has battled food price deflation, which depressed profits.

CEO Rodney McMullen said in March that Kroger would cut costs to make the grocer more competitive.

In Green Township, a new $1 million fuel center for Kroger's Monfort Heights store, at Cheviot and North Bend roads, is scheduled to open in the fall. Leesemann did not say when construction would start.

The lack of information and delays are frustrating and residents want to know when work will start on the stores, Green Township Administrator Frank Birtkenhauer said.

"We had been told to expect construction to start in early spring," Birkenhauer said. "Now, apparently everything is on hold."

Geoff Milz, Colerain Township economic development director and assistant administrator, echoed that frustration, pointing out that other projects, such as a new Centennial Savings facility, are being held up by the delay. "I think everyone wants to see these projects get under way," he said.

Cindi Andrews, Sarah Brookbank and Alexander Coolidge contributed.