New Kroger Marketplace grocery store planned for Lexington’s Northside near Publix
Could Lexington be getting a new Northside Kroger to compete with incoming Publix?
A plan for a new Kroger Marketplace was filed on Nov. 24 for 760 Newtown Springs Dr., according to the city’s planning and zoning website.
The proposal calls for a 122,000-square-foot store with a separate 5,000-square-foot liquor store next door with a separate entrance and a fuel center as part of a 20-acre development.
The new Kroger would not have an entrance directly off of Newtown Pike but would sit just behind three other new buildings.
The new store comes as grocery competition is about to ramp up: Publix, the Florida-based grocery chain, is planning to build at least two stores in Lexington and possibly another in Nicholasville.
Planning and zoning considerations for new North Lexington Kroger
The site is already zoned for a commercial grocery store. The planning commission will have to sign off on the grocer’s development plan.
The Kroger Marketplace would have about 639 parking spaces. The plans also appear to have a drive-thru pharmacy and space for online order grocery pick up.
The site, just off Newtown Pike near the Amazon distribution facility, is a vacant field next to a new development called Newtown Springs, which is just off Citation Boulevard.
RD Property Group, which is building Newtown Springs, has said the development also will have an Everhome Suites, slated to open Spring 2024, and the Starbucks that recently opened.
The area also is near the Marriott Hotel & Resort at Griffin Gate, the Embassy Suites Hotel and the University of Kentucky Coldstream Research Campus, all near I-64.
Grocery store competition in Lexington
There are at least 11 other Kroger locations in Lexington already with larger Marketplace locations at Beaumont Centre and Richmond Road.
Lexington also is home to several other grocery chains including Meijer, Aldi, Target, Walmart, Sam’s, Costco, Crossroads IGA, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.
Florida-based grocery chain Publix has announced two stores in Lexington.
The first Publix in the Bluegrass will open in the new shopping center at Fountains of Palomar at Harrodsburg Road and Man o’ War Boulevard in 2024. Another has been announced for the Citation Point development at Citation Boulevard and Georgetown Road, not far from the newly planned Kroger Marketplace.
This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 2:13 PM.
