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Marketplace expected to generate jobs, traffic

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By Jill Kelley, Staff Writer 10:09 PM Wednesday, September 1, 2010

CENTERVILLE — After years of negotiating, Kroger Co. announced Tuesday, Aug. 31, that it plans to build a Marketplace at 1095 S. Main St.

Centerville City Manager Greg Horn said he expects the new store, which will be roughly twice the size of the Kroger next door to the intended site, to spur economic development.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that a lot of interested businesses have been sitting and waiting to see what Kroger would do,” said Horn, noting that the project has been in the works for more than two years. “Just to have this issue put to bed will help other businesses make decisions.”

One business that made that call early was Archer’s Tavern, which opened June 28 at 9496 Dayton-Lebanon Pike, across the street from the planned Marketplace.

Dan Apolito said he and his fellow co-owners of Archer’s Tavern were well aware of the pending construction when they chose that Centerville location.

“We made our decision knowing it wasn’t a certainty, but hoping it would materialize,” said Apolito, adding that his personal projection is that the new store will provide an increase of 7,500 cars per day. “We’re extremely excited that it has finally been approved. It definitely will be a home run for us.”

Nathan Cahall, Centerville’s economic development administrator, said the Marketplace addition will help make Centerville’s southern community corridor more sustainable for the future.

Horn added that the Marketplace is in a good place, demographically and geographically.

“There are a lot of positives with this site, (and now) Kroger is there making a major, long-term commitment,” said Horn of the shopping center at South Main (Ohio 48) and Sheehan Road. “Most of the residential growth is south of Centerville, in Washington Twp. and Clearcreek Twp.”

Added Cahall: “There is a lot of housing development potential in the area. Over the next decade, we would expect a steady increase in housing.”

The Kroger Marketplace announcement came a day after Bon-Ton announced it was planning to close its Elder-Beerman store at that site.

Mary Kerr, spokeswoman for Bon-Ton, said the plan to close Elder-Beerman had nothing to do with Kroger.

“We make our decisions based on how we feel about our stores,” said Kerr, who said the closing was primarily due to the store’s proximity to the Dayton Mall Elder-Beerman. “We felt that our customers who shop at the Centerville location would transfer their shopping to the Dayton Mall.”

Kerr said the store will stay open through January to serve customers through the holidays.

Rachael Betzler, spokeswoman for Kroger, said the Cincinnati-based grocery store chain plans to start construction as soon as the Elder-Beerman closes.

Kroger plans to keep the current store on South Main Street operational until the night before the Marketplace opens, which should be in 2011.

The 250 employees of the current Kroger will be offered jobs at the Marketplace, according to Betzler, and another 200 will be hired.

Sixty-five employees at Elder-Beerman will have the opportunity to consider available positions at other Elder-Beerman stores or receive career transition benefits, according to Bon-Ton.

In the meantime, work on widening and enhancing Sheehan Road will likely begin this month.“With Kroger Marketplace going in where Elder-Beerman is now, we are going to see a high-traffic generating shopping center become a mega-traffic generating shopping center,” Cahall said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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