PERRYSBURG – Kroger has submitted plans to the city for a second store that would be the largest of its
kind in the area market.
Developers representing the Cincinnati-based grocery retailer will appear before the city Planning
Commission on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. to present a traffic study and a preliminary site plan for a
90,000-square-foot supermarket at the southeast corner of Ohio 25 and Roachton Road. Kroger
representatives will show the proposed building footprint and discuss how it would conform to city
zoning as well as how traffic could be impacted by development.
Kroger anticipates its companion store to the one off of Fremont Pike would be built on an 10.7-acre
parcel about 400 to 500 feet from Ohio 25 and about 460 feet from Roachton Road.
Jeff Bieber, real estate manager in Kroger’s corporate office, said the development would include a
five-pump gas station along the frontage of Ohio 25 and surrounding lots that could be sold or leased to
local businesses that would not compete with the supermarket. The combined grocery store and retail
out-lot parcel is just under 18 acres, according to the site plan.
Assuming plans move on schedule through the city, he said, construction could begin in late 2009 or in
early 2010 depending on the weather.
"We’re not going to purchase the land until we’re fully entitled with the City of Perrysburg, so we
have to watch those processes go through first before we would take title of the land," he said.

Bieber said a store of this size typically employs about 125 full-time equivalent workers. He declined to
offer the amount of tax revenue that the store would generate for the city. This would be the largest
store in the Toledo area market, he said.
Gary Yunker, a real estate consultant representing Bostleman Development as part of a joint venture with
RLWest Properties, said his group has an option on about 45 acres that it intends to purchase from the
Reitzel family if the city eventually signs off on the project. The developing entities would then sell
a portion of that property to Kroger and could sell or lease the remaining acreage to supporting
independent businesses.
"This is predicated on the market," he said of developing the surrounding lots. "Nothing
is for sure."
Bieber said Kroger’s plans will show a full interchange and a limited-access interchange on both Route 25
and Roachton Road. Additionally, he said, the project would require a new traffic light on Route 25 that
would be located about halfway between Roachton Road and Progress Drive.
Members of Perrysburg Heights community, situated north of the proposed development site, objected to a
zoning request for the development two years ago due to concerns about increased traffic and the lack of
a residential or green space buffer between the development and the neighborhood. Residents in the area
wanted a buffer on the south side of Roachton Road.
But since the zoning change, Bieber said, allowances have been made in the site plans for 20 percent of
the parking area and 15 percent of the total development property to be green space. He said this would
include grass and trees in islands to buffer between the development and the surrounding area, including
the Perrysburg Heights community to the north.
The city council approved a zoning change last year for about eight acres of the project site from
Multi-Family Residential to Planned Business Park.
Rick Thielen, city planning and zoning director, said the plan as submitted appears to exceed minimum
green space requirements for the development. However, he said, the commission may ask for additional
landscaping and mounding on the south side of Roachton Road based on previous commitments made by the
developers and the property owner.
"We’re very sensitive to Perrysburg Heights," Thielen said.
The commission will also be asked to grant special approval for the fuel center and for a pharmacy
drive-through.
Bieber said the grocery chain decided upon a second location in the city based on growth in the targeted
area. He pointed to the "dynamic market" created by nearby Perrysburg High School, neighboring
housing as well as industries and developments such as the Willard & Kelsey solar plant and the
Catholic Diocese property on Dixie Highway.
"People are looking for another grocery option, and we want to be that option for them," he
said.