Photo: Demolition of the unoccupied eastern portion of the former Kmart store on the southwest corner of Bannister and Hillcrest Roads will begin October 1. Photo by Bill Rankin
New Price Chopper on Bannister to begin development October 1
By John Sharp
Demolition of the unoccupied eastern portion of the former Kmart store on the southwest corner of Bannister and Hillcrest Roads in preparation for constructing a new full-service Price Chopper operated by Ball’s Food Stores is expected to begin around the first of October following City Council approval August 27 of a redevelopment plan for the site and economic development incentives for the project.
Demolition site improvements including making parking lot repairs and upgrading adjacent areas with new curbs and sidewalks, landscaping and signage; and constructing the new grocery store are expected to take about 12 months to complete, according to Jason Swords, principal of Sunflower Development Group, the local consultant for Los Robles Capital Management, the California-based developer of the project.
Swords said hopefully the 48,500 square foot state of the art grocery which will include a pharmacy will open in September or October of 2021. It will essentially replace the present 30,000 square foot Ball’s Price Chopper at 9550 Blue Ridge Blvd.
David Ball, owner of Ball’s Food Stores, has said the new store will rival any grocery store in the metropolitan area and will include products and services not offered at the smaller Blue Ridge store including a bakery with fresh-baked Tippin’s pies, café, deli, larger produce section with much of the produce purchased from area family farms and a wide variety of organic items, bigger seafood section and expanded meat market featuring beef, pork and poultry cut fresh every day.
Other groceries in the area operated by Ball’s Food Stores include the full-service Price Chopper in Truman’s Marketplace in Grandview and the remodeled Sun Fresh in Red Bridge Shopping Center.
The approved redevelopment plan also calls for building a fast food restaurant with drive-through service on a pad site. Swords said negotiations to select an operator for the restaurant are currently going on, and he hopes to have a lease agreement finalized before the end of the year.
The larger western portion of the former Kmart is occupied by Life Storage that offers climate controlled storage units of various sizes.