During last Wednesday’s Village Council meeting, council member Len Weatherby, who also serves as a member of the Planning & Zoning Commission, reported that Sunbury Mills Plaza, also known as Kroger Plaza, would soon be growing.
When the plaza’s development plan was being crafted in 2007 and 2008 a dozen out lots were anticipated, and an additional larger retail unit was planned at the south end of the plaza.
Developer Vince Romanelli and his partners had said that all out lots would be sold and the second large retail unit built and occupied within two years. Then the residential housing market imploded, followed by a recession. Today, only four out lots are occupied and the site of the large retail unit has remained a grassy field surrounded by parking lots.
Weatherby said members of the zoning commission have approved a plan to split the large retail building into two smaller units separated by a 30-foot patio for outdoor dining.
“Vince Romanelli wants to start as soon as possible with one of the buildings,” Weatherby said. “It will be brick all around that will match Kroger, and have eight-foot mounding along South Miller Drive.”
Weatherby said each building would be almost 8,800 square feet, the two building combined will have 12 storefronts, and all Kroger Development Plan rules apply to the new buildings.
Sunbury Village Solicitor David Brehm said there would be no site plan changes.
“There is no firm timeline between buildings one and two,” Brehm said. “They will start the first building on the Big Walnut Grill side.”