FRANKFORT, KY – Kroger made a significant advance in its expansion plans last week when the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) approved up to $70 million in industrial revenue bonds. The bonds will be issued to finance the Cincinnati-based retailer’s planned 674,000-square-foot distribution center in Boone County, Kentucky.
According to news source Louisville Business First, the new northern Kentucky logistics and distribution center will allow the company to “rebalance” its products, distribute more efficiently to the company’s more than 1,000 local stores, and create new opportunities for investment.
“More than 8.5 million customers shop in our stores every day and our goal is to always have our shelves stocked with the variety and selection our shoppers want,” Frank Bruni, Kroger’s Vice President of Supply Chain and Logistics, told the Cincinnati Business Courier in March. “The new facility will help our logistics team to improve lead times and drive efficiencies for our stores and ultimately our customers.”
The retailer’s filing with KEDFA notes that the $70 million in bonds will include the $5.4 million value of the land, $18.5 million in equipment costs, $3.8 million in infrastructure spending, and $42.3 million on the building and improvements.
This March the Courier reported that Kroger bought Park 536 building from VanTrust Real Estate LLC for nearly $34 million. And the company will invest millions more into redeveloping the into a 674,000-square-foot distribution center.
At the time of the purchase, Judge-Executive of Boone County Gary Moore called the new facility an “impressive investment” that “will have a positive ripple effect throughout Northern Kentucky.”
Kroger employs 20,000 workers in the region. Nationwide, the company employs 443,000 associates at nearly 2,800 supermarkets.
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