By Ann Craig-Cinnamon
On Nov. 3, Kroger presented an updated proposal to the Fishers Town Council for its planned expansion at 116th Street and Olio Road. The original proposal did not receive a good response from the council in March and members of the public also expressed concerns. In response, Kroger held public meetings to seek input from residents.
Kroger wants to build a new 123,000-square-foot store directly behind the current store, which is 65,000 square feet. The current store would be demolished once the new store is open and that space would be converted into a landscaped area and more parking. Mark Salma, from Kroger’s central division real estate office based in Indianapolis, said the company responded to comments from the neighborhood.
“There was concern about a new driveway that we had proposed at the western edge of the shopping center,” Salma said, “so we subsequently deleted the driveway from our plan and introduced a water feature in its place. There were comments requesting a boulevard-style entry coming in off Olio Road, so we now proposed a tree-lined entry element coming off Olio and leading to the new Kroger area. There were some comments about the retro-fitting of the retail shop building that will remain in place that is currently adjacent to Kroger, so we have responded to those requests.”
Salma also said that there were misconceptions about some of the product lines that the larger store would carry. Some people believed the store would be a super center selling appliances, bicycles and electronics. Salma said that Kroger has attempted to clarify that it is still a food store and that the percentage of food sales to non-food items will remain essentially the same. He said that many food departments will actually be much larger. For instance, the plan for the service deli is to be five and a half times the current size.
Salma said the council response to the new plan seemed positive. “We were very happy. We felt that our proposal was very well received and the meeting seemed to go very well,” he said. “The planning department gave a very positive description of our project and the council took it under advisement and agreed to allow us to take our proposal to the next step in the process.”
That next step is to go before the Fishers Plan Commission before returning to the council for another reading and public comment. If the plan receives the go-ahead, Salma predicted it will be 18 months before the new store is open.
