FeedsWestland council rejects Kroger plan
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Westland officials helped cut the ribbon at the Kroger store on Cherry Hill and Merriman recently, after the company made renovations to the store.Kroger Corp. representatives were rejected Monday night in their latest attempt to invest in the City of Westland.
The city council rejected a proposal from the grocer to add a fuel station at their location at Ford Road and Central City Parkway, according to Mayor Bill Wild.
The plan would have converted the long-vacant Lonestar restaurant into a viable use, he said.
“There were some concerns with it when it came up a while ago,” said Wild. “They took it off the agenda to work on those issues. They came back with some nice plans.”
Wild said the administration recommended approval, but the majority of the council members had concerns that the fuel station wouldn’t fit into the overall plan for Ford Road-the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) formulated a Ford Road 2020 plan several years ago, and the city has since approved a Ford Road overlay district to help achieve that mission.
Wild said, however, that the proposed fuel station fell outside of the boundaries of the plan. The restaurant, which has been vacant for more than five years, hasn’t attracted any other users, he added.
“They pretty much gutted that building when they left,” he said. “It looks nice on the outside, but it’s really obsolete for a restaurant use. We’ve tried to get new users into that building, but we haven’t gotten any nibbles on it.”
He said Kroger has invested about $10 million in the city during the past three years through upgrades and renovations at the four stores within Westland boundaries. The city hosted a ribbon cutting for one of those renovations at the Cherry Hill and Merriman road store recently.
“In these trying times, they’ve been a pretty good corporate citizen,” said Wild. He estimated that Kroger employs about 500 people in the Westland locations; about 300 of them are residents of the city, he added.
Wild said he hoped the rejection wouldn’t send the wrong message.
“I don’t want anyone to think we’re not business friendly,” he said. “We’ve been working very hard to bring new businesses to Westland and to redevelop old sites.”
