A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday, July 30, 2025, for a new Kroger Marketplace to be located at the Park Place development in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. Preliminary foundation work (right) for the store was underway Wednesday. The 120,000-square-foot grocery store is expected to open by mid-2026.
Shovels are prepped with hardhats for officials taking part in the Wednesday, July 30, 2025, groundbreaking ceremony for a new Kroger Marketplace to be located at the Park Place development in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. The 120,000-square-foot grocery store is expected to open by mid-2026.
This aerial photo from July 2024 shows the current Riverwalk Plaza Kroger grocery store (foreground) with the under-construction Park Place shopping center development across MacCorkle Avenue (background), where officials hope a Kroger Marketplace store will open by mid-2026.
South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Mayor Frank Mullens speaks at a groundbreaking event on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, for a new Kroger Marketplace to be located at the city's Park Place development. The 120,000-square-foot grocery store is expected to open by mid-2026.
The transformation of a former industrial site in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä into a regional retail hub began with a vision in 2016. While surveying what was then a fly ash pond previously used by FMC Corp., developer Mike Nidiffer saw potential.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday, July 30, 2025, for a new Kroger Marketplace to be located at the Park Place development in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. Preliminary foundation work (right) for the store was underway Wednesday. The 120,000-square-foot grocery store is expected to open by mid-2026.
CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE | Gazette-Mail
That day with his team at Interstate Real Estate Development, including co-owner Brent Roswall, Nidiffer pointed to the landscape and floated the idea of building a "power center" — a large retail complex anchored by major national chains.Â
"I was actually sitting up here eating a Krispy Kreme donut with one of my agents," Nidiffer said Wednesday at a groundbreaking for a new Kroger grocery store to be placed on the site. "I said, 'We need a power center site in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, because I know a lot of tenants are coming here.' I looked out the window, and I pointed right to the site and said, 'Right there.' That's really how it first started."
The concept soon moved beyond sketches and conversation, leading to meetings with South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä’s mayor and city manager. That early collaboration proved essential to turning the idea into reality, which culminated in a groundbreaking nearly 10 years after that 2016 meeting.
This aerial photo from July 2024 shows the current Riverwalk Plaza Kroger grocery store (foreground) with the under-construction Park Place shopping center development across MacCorkle Avenue (background), where officials hope a Kroger Marketplace store will open by mid-2026.
At the heart of the new Park Place development — situated on MacCorkle Avenue just west of the Gestamp manufacturing plant, 3100 MacCorkle Ave. SW — will be a Kroger Marketplace — the first of its kind in West Virginia and the largest Marketplace in Kroger’s nationwide portfolio, according to company officials. The store will cover approximately 120,000 square feet and bring nearly 300 full- and part-time jobs to the community. It represents a $40 million investment for the Cincinnati-based company.Â
The new Kroger will replace the existing location across MacCorkle Avenue in Riverwalk Plaza. All employees from the current location will transfer to the new store. No other Kroger stores in the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä area are expected to close, according to Max Harmon, assistant real estate manager for Kroger's Mid-Atlantic region.
However, about an hour north of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, the Kroger between Sutton and Gassaway, in Braxton County, the smallest store in Kroger's Mid-Atlantic region, is closing on Aug. 22, according to MetroNews.
The Park Place store will be about double the size of the current Riverwalk Kroger and roughly 20–25% larger than the Kroger in Teays Valley, the newest in the area. As a power-center anchor tenant, it would draw foot traffic to the surrounding retail development — expected to include about 23 to 24 businesses in total, offering a mix of restaurants, retail shops and other services.
Mission BBQ and a Skechers Outlet have been confirmed alongside Kroger, and home-improvement store Menard's has purchased property in the development, as well. More store announcements are expected in the coming months as leases are finalized, including a new business coming to the soon-to-be-vacant Riverwalk Plaza Kroger.
The Kroger Marketplace will feature expanded aisles and upgraded departments, including apparel, toys, kitchenware, soft goods and bedding. Shoppers can expect these store features:
Nidiffer, the developer, emphasized the site's strategic location.
“This is basically the capital of West Virginia, where everything kind of comes together,†he said.
Bristol, Tennessee-based Interstate Real Estate Development owns several-million square feet of commercial real estate across West Virginia, including the Target Centers in Barboursville and Morgantown, according to Nidiffer.
Before construction could begin, though, the site required remediation and planning. Mayor Frank Mullens said the city began a drainage-and-fill project in 2019 to convert the former FMC site into usable land — ultimately unlocking more than 400,000 square feet of development potential.
South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Mayor Frank Mullens speaks at a groundbreaking event on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, for a new Kroger Marketplace to be located at the city's Park Place development. The 120,000-square-foot grocery store is expected to open by mid-2026.
CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE | Gazette-Mail
To make the project financially viable, the city established a Tax Increment Financing district — an essential move, given the scope and cost of preparing the land, according to Mullens.
“We’re the only city in the state of West Virginia that had both a real estate and a sales tax TIF,†Mullens said. “Nobody was ever going to develop this without that tool that the state allowed us to have. No private developer could ever make this happen and make money at it. Otherwise, it’d never been done.â€
Extensive groundwork followed, including dewatering and the installation of wick drains to stabilize the site. The multi-year effort was a coordinated push between local and state officials and private developers to reclaim and repurpose the land for long-term economic growth.Â
Shovels are prepped with hardhats for officials taking part in the Wednesday, July 30, 2025, groundbreaking ceremony for a new Kroger Marketplace to be located at the Park Place development in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. The 120,000-square-foot grocery store is expected to open by mid-2026.
CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE | Gazette-Mail
Kroger’s roots in West Virginia run deep, with the company first opening stores in the Kanawha Valley in 1926.
The new Marketplace store is expected to open in July 2026, just in time for Kroger’s 100th anniversary in the state. However, Wednesday's groundbreaking was originally announced for April 1, so timelines could shift.
“Weather has been a challenge this summer,†Harmon said. “We would have liked to have been a little farther along.â€
As construction progresses toward the Marketplace’s anticipated 2026 opening, Mullens said he believes the South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä retail hub stands poised to become more than just a shopping center. He sees it as a catalyst for economic growth that brings people from multiple counties together to shop.
"There’s no question that, not only this corridor, but this project itself, has springboarded some other growth we’re already seeing," Mullens said. "I think this is the economic engine that’s making all those things happen."
