Hinesville has seen new developments with the proposed Kroger Marketplace over the past two weeks.
Arahn Hawkins with Kroger Atlanta Real Estate presented the project for the planned superstore off of Veterans Parkway at the Liberty County Development Authority meeting Sept. 30.
The new store would be 123,000 square feet, offering new products and departments. It would be the largest grocery store from here to Savannah, according to Hawkins.
The current Kroger store at 555 W. Oglethorpe Highway is 44,000 square feet and is a property whose lease expires August 2019.
“So what we are proposing to do is replace that store with a new Kroger-owned Marketplace store,” Hawkins said.
The new store would offer a variety of services including a pharmacy, Starbucks, upscale deli, grilling station, clothing and home décor.
It would also feature a new service called ClickList, in which customers can order groceries online and then drive up to the store where they can pick them up. Hawkins said it would be one of the first stores in the region with this service.
Construction would be difficult because of the high water table, making half of the $6.5 million site cost to bring the location to a level in which construction can be started, Hawkins said. Usually, the site cost is around $3 million for a large store like this.
Hawkins explained that this Kroger project has not been officially approved by Kroger yet, so there is no assurance that it will be built.
The total project is estimated to cost $26.5 million, and Kroger was looking to the LCDA to assist with getting a bond.
Kroger Atlanta Real Estate is submitting the project to Kroger’s capital committee in Cincinnati and is looking for community support as it competes against other projects from across the country.
“What I like to tell the capital committee is that the community — the authorities — supports it,” Hawkins said. “There are some tools that could help us. And that really, really helps us during that approval process from the capital committee. So anything that we’re able to achieve, it just sets us apart from other divisions and even our own projects, I guess.”
Hawkins said he had a similar project in Athens that was successful, and his company’s efforts getting bonds for title helped the project. The only difference would be the specific site work for the Hinesville location.
LCDA board members wanted to make sure that if they supported the project, that Kroger would be an equal partner in the community.
“What we need to be assured of that we’ll have a relationship with you guys in this community that benefits not only you guys … but, more importantly for us, is we’ve got a responsibility to the taxpayers here and to the citizens, to make sure that you’re going to be — you’re going to partner with us in the community,” LCDA board secretary Brian Smith said.
Smith went on to say that previous mangers of the current Kroger store were involved in the community, and the board wants to see that continue if the LCDA helps Kroger financially.
LCDA CEO Ronald Tolley said earlier in the meeting that the authority funded a retail study in 2013 to see where sales dollars were going to outside the county.
The study found that almost 50 percent of sales — Liberty County’s biggest loss — was going to out-of-county grocery purchases. He said the study recommended that the county look at incentives to bring in grocery stores.
The LCDA voted during the meeting to approve an in-principle agreement to be a conduit for a government bond to assist Kroger for the $26.5 million project. The LCDA can get the bond at a lower rate than the corporation can directly, but Kroger would be the one paying it.
At the Hinesville City Council meeting Oct. 1, four parcels, totaling 24 acres, were approved for rezoning on Veterans Parkway for the proposed location of the Kroger Marketplace.