Sylvania: Expansion starts soon for Kroger

4/20/2005

Construction is due to begin soon on an expansion project of the Sylvania Kroger store at 6235 Monroe St.

Officials of the company said they are also planning to ask the city for permission to add a fuel station to the site.

Although there have been no written requests for the needed special-use permit for a gas station, company officials have asked to meet informally with planning commission members during their May meeting.

The grocery store expansion will be primarily to the east and include demolition of the dilapidated building facing Monroe Street which once housed an ice cream store.

That area will be used, in part, for a new driveway that will allow for deliveries at the east end of the building.

The addition for the store built in 1982 is expected to be about 25,000 square feet and cost just under $6 million, according to papers filed with the city's Board of Architectural Review.

The parking lot will be redesigned for angled parking and an island is planned at the Harroun Road entrance to reduce the chance of cars using the lot to cut between Monroe and Harroun.

The expansion plans are unrelated and were already under way when Kroger requested a zoning change for a new building at Centennial and Sylvania-Metamora roads.

That plan met opposition from residents, and was withdrawn by the company before the zoning issue went to Sylvania CityCouncil.

The company said it had decided to build only larger stores and the site wasn't sufficient for that.

Monica Gordon, media relations manager for Kroger, said no construction schedule has been established, but work is expected to begin next month or possibly early June.

She said the store will remain open and unchanged while construction is under way.

The project should be finished by the end of the year of early 2006, she said.