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Indianapolis Star 

USA TODAY NETWORK

 

Kroger has submitted plans to build a new store on the northeast corner of Allisonville Road and 116th Street in Fishers to replace its smaller grocery across the street.

 

The store would be 120,000-square feet with a Starbucks inside, a pharmacy, a gas station and 621 parking spots at Fishers Station Mall. The move would open up the land at Fishers Crossing Mall on the northwest side of the intersection for redevelopment by the city. 

 

The current 70,000-square-foot Kroger store could be repurposed and mixed-use housing and other types of shopping could be built, according to a recommendation by a Fishers consultant.

 

The $38.8 million Kroger plan will go before the Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday, where the company will seek three variances to city code. Kroger said it needs to plant 122 shrubs farther away from the building than code requires, erect one more sign than allowed and put a free-standing automated teller machine at the site. Kroger will build a 5-foot wide sidewalk along 116th Street.

 

The gas station will have 17 pumps and a small kiosk, Anne McBride, of McBride Dale Clarion, a Kroger consultant, told residents on a video meeting last week.

 

City officials said the move fits with its plan to redevelop Allisonville Road from 106th Street to 126th Street. “This is exactly in line with that vision of greening and improving bike and pedestrian access,” Fishers Director of Planning and Zoning Megan Vukusich said at the meeting. Kroger previously dropped plans to move to the mall — where a Marsh grocery closed — because of changing market conditions. 

 

Kroger Marketplace will have an expanded Kroger Pickup order area, wider aisles, and store-made popcorn. HWC Engineering of Indianapolis has recommended converting the vacated store to a city-owned recreation center or food hall, tearing down the other buildings and constructing two mixed-use buildings, developing a public plaza and adding sidewalks, trees and benches within the area.

 

The Kroger plan will eventually need approval of the city council.