PEORIA — A long-planned overhaul of the Kroger store in Central Peoria and the building expansion and possible addition of a fuel center to the Kroger in East Peoria are now on hold and could become casualties of the same economic woes that forced two local store closures.
A Kroger spokesman confirmed the stalled status of both projects Thursday as part of the announcement that store locations on Wisconsin Avenue and Harmon Highway will close by the end of the month.
"Company wide, the pace of construction has slowed down," said Eric Halvorson, spokesman for Kroger's central division. "We're re-evaluating the numbers just to see what makes sense."
In late 2015, Kroger officials said the chain was planning to construct a Kroger Marketplace store at Evergreen Square, a replacement for its current facility in the same shopping center on Lake Avenue.
The Marketplace store would be a larger-than-usual grocery in the former K-Mart building across the parking lot from the current Kroger store. The Marketplace moniker also indicates sales of items other than usual foodstuffs, such as appliances, clothing and toys.
Construction has yet to begin, even though the Peoria City Council approved Kroger's plan in November 2015.
Third-District Councilman Tim Riggenbach, who represents the area where Evergreen Square is located, said the grocery chain did not acquire the necessary properties for the project until February 2017.
"You can imagine the changes in the Peoria economy in those months," Riggenbach said in a reference to local layoffs and the corporate-headquarters relocation at Caterpillar Inc.
Halvorson did not have a specific timetable for when the review of the Marketplace store and addition of a fuel center in East Peoria would be complete.
In a conversation with Kroger real estate representatives on Thursday, Riggenbach said he learned the company planned to review a handful of proposed projects in the first quarter of this year.
Matt Buedel can be reached at 686-3154 or mbuedel@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @JournoBuedel. Nick Vlahos can be reached at 686-3285 or nvlahos@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @vlahosnick.