Kentro plans redevelopment of Belcaro King Soopers site as grocer relocates

As King Soopers prepares to relocate one of its stores along Colorado Boulevard, a developer is plotting the future of the site the grocer will vacate.

Denver- based Kentro Group submitted redevelopment plans to the city for 825 S. Colorado Blvd., a 6.4- acre site in the Belcaro neighborhood that features a strip mall anchored by the grocer and two stand- alone buildings.

King Soopers, a division of Cincinnatibased Kroger, told Businessden in October that the company plans to open a new store a mile south at 4201 E. Arkansas Ave., formerly home to the headquarters of the Colorado Department of Transportation.

As part of that, the grocer plans to close the store at 825 S. Colorado Blvd., which opened more than 50 years ago.

Kentro submitted plans that call for a couple of large three- story buildings with as many as 300 residential units, in addition to a retail component on the southern end of the lot. But a Kentro spokeswoman said that the specifics could change.

“Kentro Group filed the Belcaro plans as part of the standard due diligence process to secure more information about the city’s requirements,” Robin Rothman said in an email. “The final development may or may not resemble this submittal.”

The plans cite as inspiration a redevelopment effort about three miles north along Colorado Boulevard. The 9+ Co project undertaken by Continuum Partners and CIM Group transformed a former hospital campus into a mixed- use project.

“The Belcaro King Soopers site represents a unique opportunity to redevelop an existing auto- oriented urban site into a sensible pedestrian- oriented project that adds residential diversity, provides a buffer for an existing neighborhood and softens the commercial intensity of Colorado Boulevard in a manner similar to the Ninth & Colorado district,” read the plans, which were drawn up by The Mulhern Group.

Kentro is on both ends of King Soopers’ store relocation. The company owns the former CDOT site where the new store is set to be constructed. King Soopers, meanwhile, owns the Belcaro site.

King Soopers didn’t respond to a request for comment.