Demolition of a former body shop has begun as part of Kroger’s planned expansion of its store at the Anderson Towne Center. (Photo: Cindy Schroeder/The Community Press )
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP – When it opened 10 years ago, Kroger’s grocery in the Anderson Towne Center was the largest in Ohio and it was considered “state of the art” with a jewelry store, Starbucks and drive-thru pharmacy.
Today, the 105,114-square-foot store in the 7500 block of Beechmont Avenue needs to be expanded because it no longer meets customers’ expectations, the Kroger Co. says. The Cincinnati-based grocer is seeking approval of a zoning map amendment that would allow Kroger to build a 50,097-square-foot addition to the east.
Kroger’s proposed expansion of its Anderson Township store would mean wider aisles, more inventory to avoid out-of-stock items, and a larger pharmacy with a third drive-thru window. The fuel center would stay where it is, but parking for the store would nearly double, from 419 spaces to 814.
In its application to the Anderson Township Zoning Commission, Kroger says the project, which also includes “a feature development corner at Beechmont Avenue and Wolfangel Road,” would create a development that would be “the focal point of the Anderson downtown.”
In a recent meeting with Anderson Township officials, Kroger’s neighbors raised a number of questions, including how the project would affect local traffic, how much early morning noise there would be from vendors and garbage collectors, and whether the expansion would increase crime and litter.
“We believe that the application submitted reflects the comments and suggestions from the numerous meetings held with Anderson Township, adjacent residents, Hamilton County engineer, ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) and others,” Kroger wrote in its application to Anderson Township officials.
Kroger’s plan calls for additional landscaping. It also calls for nearly a dozen traffic improvements in keeping with a traffic impact analysis of Beechmont Avenue, Wolfangel Road, Bowen Avenue and Towne Center Way, as well as neighbors’ recommendations on how to improve traffic flow.
Demolition of vacant homes Kroger purchased several years ago has been completed, and demolition crews were knocking down a former body shop at the corner of Beechmont Avenue and Wolfangel Road, and a former used car dealership between the body shop and the current Kroger store, Friday, Oct. 10. Construction of the expanded Kroger is scheduled to start next fall if the required zoning approvals are granted, with a grand reopening in fall 2016, according to documents Kroger submitted to Anderson Township officials.
The southeast corner of the site, bordered by Wolfangel Road and Beechmont Avenue, would be developed by Kroger with yet-to-be-named neighborhood oriented businesses around an outdoor pedestrian plaza. That area would incorporate building materials and a design similar to that of Kroger and the Anderson Towne Center for a unified look, Kroger’s application says.
New features at the expanded grocery would include LED lighting throughout Kroger’s parking lot and the corner development, as well as an online shopping program that would enable the grocer’s customers to shop online and collect their purchases at a specific time in the new store.
For more information on Kroger’s proposed expansion, visit www.andersontownship.org.
Review before the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission at 1 p.m. Nov. 6
That body will make a recommendation to the Anderson Township Zoning Commission, which could consider the issue at its regular meeting on Nov. 24.
The township’s zoning commission could then make a recommendation to the Anderson Township Board of Trustees, which would have the final say on the proposed zoning map amendment. That decision could come in December.
