The locally owned landscape center Altum's said in a note to customers last week that Kroger has withdrawn plans
to build a new grocery store on the nursery property on the edge of Carmel. The decision came just a few weeks before Altum's
planned to move from its current home at 11335 N. Michigan Road about four miles north to near Michigan Road and 146th Street.
The nursery is exploring other redevelopment options for its current location and still plans to move to its new home eventually.
The nursery now plans to remain open at its current home at least through the holidays. “This was definitely unexpected,"
Dana Altum said in the note to customers. "But we’re moving on and we’re just as excited about the plans
and potential.” The original plans had called for a full-size Kroger store,
Kroger-branded gas station, small shops and a couple of outlots. A Kroger spokesman did not immediately return a phone message.
Kroger does not yet have a store in the Zionsville/West Carmel area. Its closest locations are along West 86th Street just
west of Township Line Road and at 71st Street and Georgetown Road.
UPDATE: Kroger Spokesman John Elliott says the numbers just didn't work on the Altum's site but that the chain still is interested in building a new store in the area. "That still remains a geographic gap for us, and we're determined to fill it," he said.
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I am not a fan of big box retail, but I would prefer to see development as progress that can overcome that type of ignorance.
Now that they're surrounded by commercial development (again), the land value is way up.
Increase in land value raises taxes, but doesn't do anything to raise sales. Nurseries in particular require a lot of space, so the only way to cut "space expense" is to sell, move to a more-rural area and hope the customers follow.