A proposed Kroger Marketplace near Keller Town Center would be a scaled down version of what the grocery chain originally proposed for the site more than a decade ago.
Kroger has also made other changes to the plans, including mitigating potential traffic congestion around the intersection of Rufe Snow Drive and Keller Parkway, the company says.
The grocer held a public meeting Tuesday at Keller town hall to answer questions about the project. A Kroger representative emphasized the changes from the 2015 plan, including a smaller building size and an expansion plan for Rufe Snow. The new store would replace an older Kroger across the street.
Around 15 people attended the meeting including residents and three city council members.
In 2015, the project received backlash from residents and nearby businesses, and Kroger never moved it forward. Today, some residents say they still have the same concerns about traffic, noise, light pollution, property values and what will happen to the old Kroger building.
John Votava, the Kroger Dallas corporate affairs director, told the Star-Telegram that the grocer learned a lot from the previously planned project.
“We want to be a good neighbor to those folks who live right behind or adjacent to the property, and so we’re going to work with them,” Votava said.
John Votava, Kroger Dallas corporate affairs director, speaking with residents about the proposed Kroger Marketplace and answering questions about their concerns. Fousia Abdullahi fousia.abdullahi@star-telegram.com
Votava said Kroger made improvements to the old plan, including lowering the height of the building. The proposed store will be about 100,000 square feet on about 18 acres. Kroger plans to design the development with four access points — two along Rufe Snow Drive, and two along North Town Center Lane, with limited access to Keller Parkway.
Erra Mills and her son, Don Mills, told the Star-Telegram that they’re concerned about property values and more traffic around the new development.
“It’s already a bottleneck,” Erra Mills said. “I can’t get out of my driveway when school lets out at 4 in the afternoon — so I plan my shopping trips or whatever to not go out of the driveway at that time of day.”
Don Mills wonders what will become of a CVS pharmacy on the corner, because the Kroger Marketplace will have its own pharmacy with a drive-thru.
“What is going to happen to the CVS store right next door? Are they going to go out of business?” Don Mills said. “Then you have this big box in front of their store that will need to be either filled or torn down.”
The older Kroger across the intersection opened in 1992 at a time when Keller had only two small grocery stores for its 14,000 residents. The 59,000-square-foot Kroger was one of the largest in Texas at the time. Today, Keller has nearly 50,000 residents.
Now there are two Kroger’s, a Tom Thumb and a Natural Grocers all close by, and some residents don’t believe adding a Marketplace will work.
Recently, Kroger has closed several older, underperforming stores and is building Kroger Marketplaces in fast-growing areas like far north Fort Worth, where a Sendera Ranch location broke ground last June. In October, a Marketplace opened along Bonds Ranch Road and U.S. 287.
City council members Greg Will, Karen Brennan and Shannon Dubberly attended the meeting Tuesday and helped answer some questions from the city’s perspective.
Dubberly said his biggest concern is traffic along Rufe Snow because of the high school and other businesses.
“For that whole area of zoning for Keller Town Hall area, we want to make sure this flows in well socially,” Dubberly said. “So people come there and then come to the stores south of it. But besides the traffic, my other concern is going to be the other empty building,” referring to the old Kroger.
“What happens, several people mentioned, is sometimes you’ll get a church that will come in and buy the lot,” Dubberly said. “We have no problem with churches, obviously. The city of Keller has lots of churches, but in that area it’s more for social business, people with their families to walk around, have experiential dining and things of that nature.”
While Kroger said it has no control over who buys the land, it doesn’t plan to sell the property until the new Marketplace is closer to completion.
“We’re excited for this opportunity,” Votava said. “As I mentioned, the current store is 35-years-old nearly, and this is a great opportunity to showcase the biggest and best that Kroger has in the Keller community. So we want to make sure that our customers and those who currently don’t shop with us consider Kroger going forward.”
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fousia Abdullahi is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram news reporter who covers suburban cities including Southlake, Colleyville, Grapevine and Keller. She enjoys reading and attending local events. Send tips by email or phone.