Kroger construction kicking off a new retail landscape in Blythewood area

The Blythewood area is poised for two national chain restaurants, two hotels, a sporting goods retailer and more – all coming on the heels of a sprawling Kroger Marketplace that starts construction Tuesday.

About half of the 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of retail market space along Killian Road at the periphery of the $716 million Killian’s Crossing development have been committed, developers said Monday. That includes a Chick-fil-A restaurant expected to break ground in early September and an Applebee’s that soon is to be built.

Letters of intent have been signed by two hotels, said E. Craig Waites Jr., Collier’s International vice president and commercial brokerage group director. There is interest from a national theater group, he said. Details on the series of projects have not been released.

A couple of other fast-food restaurants are open along Killian Road at the development, billed as a retail, restaurant and entertainment destination.

“In 18 months, the landscape of Killian Road right there will change dramatically,” Waites said. “The Kroger Marketplace will generate a lot of additional activity from other retailers, restaurants and entertainment-type businesses.” The grocer is scheduled to open in the spring.

Long-anticipated, but delayed by the Great Recession, Killian’s Crossing is planned to feature 1.3 million square feet of shopping and dining space, 550,000 square feet of office space and more than 2,000 housing units.

The Kroger Marketplace store – 123,000 square feet and unique in South Carolina – will be the first retailer and first major tenant on the interior of the development, officials said. It will feature upscale service departments, a fuel center, a Starbucks, a drive-through pharmacy, an apparel department and more, Kroger officials have said.

Northeast Richland separated into two major retail clusters years ago,Waites said. The 300-acre Village at Sandhill shopping complex rose from the ground in 2004 near I-20. Killian’s Crossing is expected to fulfill a similar, perhaps larger, role near I-77, he said.

Nearby in the town of Blythewood, the new businesses are welcome, town leaders said, even though a town master plan discourages the kind of “big box” development in its town limits that Killian’s Crossing seeks to attract.

“The addition of the Kroger store, quite frankly, has both a positive and negative effect on our folks,” said Ed Parler, economic development consultant for the town of 2,600 residents.

“It’s such a positive because it does give another outlet for groceries,” Parler said. “The negative side of it, frankly, is that ... the presence of the Kroger down in that area would handicap us in being able to attract probably another (national grocery store brand) in the town itself.”

Marianne Bickle, retail department chairwoman at the University of South Carolina, said growth carries a price and a payoff.

“That area will go through some growing pains, but those growing pains are necessary,” Bickle said. “I say to all the consumers that are a little concerned about traffic, just calm down. Have an iced tea and let’s just ... rejoice at what is happening, and openly thank the businesses that are coming in, by patronizing those stores.”