City Market: Carbondale store on track

Despite some delay, the proposed City Market in Carbondale is still on track, according to a City Market spokeswoman.

In September, the town extended the deadline for the company to submit a subdivision plat, the third such extension the town has approved for this project.

Kelli McGannon, a City Market spokeswoman based in Grand Junction, said the company is still in the due diligence phase before closing on the land for the new grocery store, which is at the corner of Main Street and Colorado 133 just across from the existing store.

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“The project is still part of City Market’s expansion plans, and the intention is to move forward,” said McGannon.

In addition to being a larger store, the new building would be one of the greenest grocery stores Kroger has ever built, the project architect has said. The store also is to have a fuel station, which would be expected to have the effect of lowering gas prices in the area, as happened in Rifle in 2014 when a City Market fuel mart opened there.

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In the meantime, Carbondale Town Manager Jay Harrington said the building review process is still moving forward.

McGannon also expects that the company will meet the Feb. 28 deadline for recording the subdivision plat. The developer is still anticipating construction on the new Carbondale City Market to begin in the spring.

City Market has also proposed a new fuel station at its grocery store in El Jebel. If that proposal is approved, the developer aims to break ground on the fuel station this spring and have the facility finished in the summer.

McGannon said the fueling station proposed for the El Jebel City Market shouldn’t be read as a shift in the plans for the Carbondale grocery store, which is about 9 miles from the El Jebel site.

“Our goal is to continue to bring the shoppers a modernized shopping center, and we believe the fuel centers will be a complement to both of those stores,” she said. “City Market has been serving the Roaring Fork Valley for a long time, and we look forward to bringing the new store to Carbondale, which we expect will give customers the advantage in terms of savings and time.”

Late last year Kroger, City Market’s parent company, dramatically cut its planned capital spending, started buying back $500 million in stock and froze capital improvements until the end of the year following a drop in food prices nationwide.