Shops were moved down to accommodate the expansion, but it was put on hold. Evidently the economy slowed things down a bit. It is still going to happen, but not sure when.

 

Personally, I love that Krogers. It is large enough to accommodate a variety of brands, but not so big that it feels like a day trip to go grocery shopping.

 

When I go grocery shopping, I want to buy groceries...not porch furniture, clothes and hardware. Evidently I am in the minority.

 

I did the site review for the Kroger Company on the Fort Mitchell store. There are a few things going on with it:

 

• Their original plan was to move the store down to the old Thriftway location in Ft. Wright while they wrecked and rebuilt the Ft. Mitchell location However, the landlord in Ft. Wright was desperate for a more permanent tenant, so they give a crucial part of the space needed by Kroger to the Dollar Tree.
   
  
• If you use Kroger's apparent formula to evaluate the performance of the Ft. Mitchell store (which entails the local population, mean income, store size, etc.) the Ft. Mitchell store is among the absolute top performing Kroger stores in the United States. That being said, they're a little cautious to shut down business for 4 months or so.
   
  
• There is a LOT of coordination that is still being worked out for the Expressway Plaza parking lot, as current commercial land usage code will require the lot to be leveled out in order to prevent shopping carts from potentially rolling down the steep grade of the lot.
   
  
• Kroger has been going back and forth with the US Dept of Highways on how many (if any) gas pumps they can put in if they were to put in a gas station. From what I hear, if they cant get at least 4 pumps in, it's not worth Kroger's time and money to put in the station.
  

 

All that being said, last word from Kroger was that the store was gong out to bid in "mid-January". That was from a week or so before Thanksgiving. However, here it is, "early January", and no word on a bid date. So...:idunno:

They're not doing a super Krogers, are they? I thought the initial plan was to, but that has since changed because of the economy. Also, weren't they going to do some things for Beechwood too?

 

They were never planning on a full-scale "Kroger Marketplace" like the ones they built in Walton and Newport. However, they do plan on enlarging it a little, increasing product lines, and adding the gas station as well as another entrance and right-turn-only exit over where the old Duke substation was. The gas station, last I heard, was off the drawing board.

 

They were also going to take a little bit of Beechwood's property to improve their loading docks and truck access in the rear of the store in return for a new and improved entrance to Beechwood from the Expressway Plaza parking lot, along with building new tennis courts a little further north than where they are now.

 

 

So the Kroger next to Beechwood is going to be demolished, then built back on the same site?

 

Yes.

Does anyone remember when the Ft. Wright Pizza Hut was in the strip center and not a free standing store in the parking lot?

 

My Mom worked there when I was under 5 years old. I ran wild in that place. It was back where the porter paint store is currently. I remember when the new pizza hut went up. Now it is gone. Amazing to see the full circle. Wonder why that area never really sustains anything.

I know that Ramada inn and that other hotel is really run down. Also the old fundome is absolute garbage. Green Pool, bed bug rumors, hottub closed...no kid play area. That place was so fun. Ashame to see it rundown.

Was that when Ayres was there?

Ayres or Zayre?

I did the site review for the Kroger Company on the Fort Mitchell store. There are a few things going on with it:

 

• Their original plan was to move the store down to the old Thriftway location in Ft. Wright while they wrecked and rebuilt the Ft. Mitchell location However, the landlord in Ft. Wright was desperate for a more permanent tenant, so they give a crucial part of the space needed by Kroger to the Dollar Tree.
   
  
• If you use Kroger's apparent formula to evaluate the performance of the Ft. Mitchell store (which entails the local population, mean income, store size, etc.) the Ft. Mitchell store is among the absolute top performing Kroger stores in the United States. That being said, they're a little cautious to shut down business for 4 months or so.
   
  
• There is a LOT of coordination that is still being worked out for the Expressway Plaza parking lot, as current commercial land usage code will require the lot to be leveled out in order to prevent shopping carts from potentially rolling down the steep grade of the lot.
   
  
• Kroger has been going back and forth with the US Dept of Highways on how many (if any) gas pumps they can put in if they were to put in a gas station. From what I hear, if they cant get at least 4 pumps in, it's not worth Kroger's time and money to put in the station.
  

 

All that being said, last word from Kroger was that the store was gong out to bid in "mid-January". That was from a week or so before Thanksgiving. However, here it is, "early January", and no word on a bid date. So...:idunno:

 

I have known most of this, and as I stated above about them relocating to the Ft Wright in the old Thriftway. I know that they were given a reduction of parking spaces needed per square foot of the store, and the city council (for some odd reason) was hesitant about having a Kroger gas station, IMO one is needed, as the station at the corner of Dixie and Beechwood is usually one of the highest around with no competition nearby. Plus there was talk about them needing a little more land at the I-75 right of way.

 

I am still hearing it's goig to happen very soon.

My Mom worked there when I was under 5 years old. I ran wild in that place. It was back where the porter paint store is currently. I remember when the new pizza hut went up. Now it is gone. Amazing to see the full circle. Wonder why that area never really sustains anything.

I know that Ramada inn and that other hotel is really run down. Also the old fundome is absolute garbage. Green Pool, bed bug rumors, hottub closed...no kid play area. That place was so fun. Ashame to see it rundown.

 

I used to run that Simpsons arcade game in there.:walk:

Ayres or Zayre?

 

Oops! yes Zayres! I also remember a liquor store being where Blockbusters is now, but not the Pizza Hut. Oh no, now my long term memory is going! :ohbrother: Not a good sign!

 

I have to agree that the old Holiday Inn Fundome desperately needs to go as well as that Days in and Ramada Inn in Ft. Wright. They are very run down eyesores that do not attract the best "customers". I know someone who walked into his house and found a "lost" person who was staying at the Days Inn in his living room!

 

As far as Krogers goes, I wish they would leave it alone. I wonder why, if it is the best performing Krogers in the United States, are they going to shut it down for months and change it? A lot of people who shop there are older folks who dont/cant do a lot of walking. Bigger stores are overwhelming to them. Maybe the building itself is too outdated.

My Mom worked there when I was under 5 years old. I ran wild in that place. It was back where the porter paint store is currently. I remember when the new pizza hut went up. Now it is gone. Amazing to see the full circle. Wonder why that area never really sustains anything.

I know that Ramada inn and that other hotel is really run down. Also the old fundome is absolute garbage. Green Pool, bed bug rumors, hottub closed...no kid play area. That place was so fun. Ashame to see it rundown.

 

The fundome used to be great back when it opened. Pool,putt-putt,volleyball,hot tub and the arcade. Staying there was a big event as a kid. Anyone else remember the trick of rubbing your feet on the carpet in the arcade and holding a metal coke can (not aluminum) and hitting the metal button on the old video games and getting free credits? Between that and the quarter on a string you could play for hours.

Oops! yes Zayres! I also remember a liquor store being where Blockbusters is now, but not the Pizza Hut. Oh no, now my long term memory is going! :ohbrother: Not a good sign!

 

I have to agree that the old Holiday Inn Fundome desperately needs to go as well as that Days in and Ramada Inn in Ft. Wright. They are very run down eyesores that do not attract the best "customers". I know someone who walked into his house and found a "lost" person who was staying at the Days Inn in his living room!

 

As far as Krogers goes, I wish they would leave it alone. I wonder why, if it is the best performing Krogers in the United States, are they going to shut it down for months and change it? A lot of people who shop there are older folks who dont/cant do a lot of walking. Bigger stores are overwhelming to them. Maybe the building itself is too outdated.

 

I love the Kroger as it is It does seem to get pretty congested in there though. I think it would be a great idea to get rid of the hotels, they are eye sores.

Ayres or Zayre?

could it have been Ames? They were bought out by Zayres in about 1990?

Well to not quote the last three posters or so ill just add this:

 

The old Holiday Inn was sold to some "foreigners" I believe an Indian family, I forget the timeline but either at the take over or soon after they were forced to change affiliations and was taken in by Best Western. Soon after that Best Western dropped them and the hotel went on to USA Hotels. The city has had A LOT of trouble there and have been doing what they can to shut it down. Recently they had a buyer but that deal fell through for some reason.

 

I have no problems with the Days Inn or the old Ramada Inn, I have had friends stay there and there were no problems, just your typical low budget hotel, sort of like Super 8 in from of Drawbridge.

 

The Kroger will be a lot bigger than it is now, just not quite the size of their Market Place stores. I love the Market Place in Newport, man that place is huge. If I am not mistaken the current Ft Mitchell Kroger is about 50 - 55,000 square feet, and the new one will be around 95,000 square feet. Compared to the new Newport MarketPlace Kroger which is about 130,000 square feet. So the new Ft Mitchell store which as seen several remodels over it's life inn that location will be much bigger than it is now, bigger than the Erlanger store. One thought is getting some of the customers who usually go to stores such as WalMart who added groceries to their stores, so to get some of them to head on over to a local company in Kroger. I have been in the Newport MarketPlace once and I was amazed at how big it is, and I like it.

 

I am not sure what when into Zayre after they left, all I know it was a department store. I think the location would be great for a fun center such as the one up at Sports Plus, as long as they did it up right with more than just a few basketball courts.

 

The old Holi-dome just needs new owners, people that will take care of the place and not have so many people living there who are low income, the police are always getting calls there, I haven't been in there since it was a Best Western and that was back in 2003, and I could tell then that it was not even close in being the same hotel. I don't know what it is with some of these foreign investors, they come in and by the place then run it into the ground, such as Kings Inn around Fields Ertle Rd just a couple of mile south of Kinds Island. Rooms all musty and you have a feeling that you were the first one to enter the room in 5 or more years. I just know that the city of Fort Mitchell is doing what they can do. Maybe a theme hotel sort of like Wildwood Inn, with an indoor water park, they already have about all the room the need anyway.

The gross square footage on the Newport store was 116,432 (I built it). The planned square footage for the new Ft. Mitchell store is going to be 100,104. There is actually a pretty major disparage in the gross s.f. numbers, though, because the Ft. Mitchell number includes the truck delivery bays, and it also has a relatively large amount of storage room, as well as a considerably smaller sales floor than the Newport store.

 

I'll attach the existing store plan and the new store plan below.

Here is the current site plan. Sorry...no square footage on the building.

New store plans (these are 6 months old...the gas station on the left-hand side is not a go at this point).

New store plans (these are 6 months old...the gas station on the left-hand side is not a go at this point).

 

How do you know all of this?