Louisville City Council to weigh King Soopers proposal for blighted Sam’s Club site
LOUISVILLE — The Louisville City Council on May 17 will consider whether to give staff the go-ahead to negotiate a redevelopment agreement that would entail King Soopers opening a new grocery store at the former Sam’s Club site on McCaslin Boulevard.
Rick Dunn, who represents the ownership group of the 13.2-acre site, said in a phone interview Monday that details are still being worked out with regard to site layout and whether King Soopers parent Kroger would choose to open an 80,000-square-foot grocery store or go for a larger 123,000-square-foot King Soopers Marketplace concept that includes additional departments such as home décor, bed and bath, kitchen and small appliances, and home office.
Dunn said that if the project were to gain approval, King Soopers would either buy or lease the site at 550 S. McCaslin Blvd., and then likely demolish the current building and build a new one in its place.
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“I don’t believe they would use the existing building,” Dunn said.
Sam’s Club closed in 2010, and the 127,000-square-foot building has been mostly vacant since, though two tenants — Ascent Church and Low Cost Furniture — are leasing space there now. A group of Boulder and Denver investors — under the entities Centennial Valley Investment LLC and Seminole Land Holdings Inc. — bought the property from Sam’s Club for $3.65 million in early 2014.
City Council last year determined the property blighted and adopted an urban-renewal plan for it to be overseen by the Louisville Revitalization Commission. In January of this year, City Council put out a request for proposals for the site. The King Soopers proposal brought forth by the property’s owners was the only one submitted by the March deadline, said Aaron DeJong, economic-development director for the city.
The LRC has recommended that City Council authorize staff to negotiate a redevelopment agreement with Centennial Valley Investments.
“The LRC has been charged by the City to address challenges outlined in the urban renewal plan adopted by the City Council for this property,” Karl Becker, chair of the LRC, said in a release from the city. “This proposal appears to meet the objectives of that plan, which include alleviating the conditions of blight by encouraging private redevelopment that will in turn encourage the development and redevelopment and avoid underutilization of this and other properties in the vicinity.”
Dunn said that if the project were to gain approval, the new King Soopers could open 18 months after that. He said other retail space is a possibility at the site if King Soopers is approved. The owners are not considering any housing or office aspects.
“The only reason we’d look at mixed-use is if we for some reason couldn’t finish the deal with King Soopers,” Dunn said.
One hurdle the project could face is a set of restrictive covenants put in place by property owners in the area that DeJong said have limited potential suitors for the site. Those covenants, among others, include one that allows no large grocers other than a nearby Albertson’s within an area bounded by Cherry Street to the north, Dahlia Street to the east, Dillon Road to the south and McCaslin to the west.
That was part of the reason for creating the urban-renewal plan, which could give the LRC the power to address or change those covenants and clear the way for a use such as the new King Soopers, DeJong said.
In addition, the urban-renewal plan gives the LRC power to enter into redevelopment agreements for the property.
Centennial Valley Investments has requested assistance from the LRC and city in terms of financial incentives as well, though any such incentives would be negotiated once City Council decides whether to pursue a deal for the King Soopers project.
