North Killeen Could Soon See Construction of New Grocery Store
It's been over a year-and-a-half since IGA Foodliner on East Rancier in Killeen shuttered for good, leaving the north side of town without a large, dedicated grocery store.
The absence of such a store left many in Killeen upset and wondering what was being done to generate interest in developing a new grocery store on the old IGA property or anywhere convenient to north side residents.
Now it looks like someone is interested.
At a Killeen City Council workshop meeting Tuesday, Bob Hoxworth with the Killeen Economic Development Corporation updated the council on a yet unnamed grocer who's eyeing the intersection of East Rancier and North 38th Street for development.
Hoxworth said plans are being negotiated now between a regional grocer and a developer, and that the project would be "anchored by a 60,000 square foot grocer". He added that the developer is also interested in additional retail stores around the proposed grocery store.
"If these discussions bear fruit, we will likely have to offer the developer an incentive package that will include sales tax refunds and funding for some of the infrastructure improvements," Hoxworth said. He added that the Killeen EDC has had success working with the developer before, so he's optimistic about the future of this project, particularly the grocery store.
If you missed the meeting and want to hear Hoxworth's full (but brief) presentation about the prospective north side grocery store project, you can find a video recording here. His remarks about the project begin at the 2:26:24 mark.
Hopefully Hoxworth's optimism is well placed and the people of northeast Killeen can finally have a new grocery store dedicated to serving their community.