Southfield City Council unanimously denies Kroger gas station

SOUTHFIELD — At its Oct. 28 meeting, the Southfield City Council voted unanimously against a Kroger gas station proposal for 19991 W. 12 Mile Road, at the former Bank of America building.

At the Aug. 26 meeting, a public hearing was held in which residents spoke out against the gas station proposal at the 12 Mile and Evergreen intersection, where two other gas stations are located: a Sunoco and a BP.

Residents and the council expressed concerns about traffic, as well as the current conditions at that Kroger store, which some critics believe aren’t up to a “Southfield standard.”

Both residents and the City Council expressed their concerns to the Kroger representatives that if the gas station were not approved, Kroger would leave that Southfield location.

“If Kroger’s going to do business here, we deserve a store that’s on par with stores that we see, especially north of here,” Southfield Mayor Ken Siver stated.

“I’m looking at the improvements. I was aware of some of them, and I’m glad that from our meeting on Aug. 26, that action was taken, because we toured the store, and I mean, honestly, the floors and the refrigerator units and so on … to me, that’s not a Southfield standard.

“But given all of this and the fact that you’re telling us that it’s not a bottom performer — and I don’t doubt you that if you added gas pumps that it would be a better performer — but as far as in the profitability margin, which doesn’t concern us too much as shoppers. But I guess my question really is, what you outlined, what you’ve already done, and what you say you’re going to do, then one of the speculations was that if you didn’t get the gas pumps, you’d leave town.”

Caleb Stevens, the operations manager for the Kroger Co. of Michigan, addressed the mayor and other residents’ concerns that Kroger would leave.

“There’s no intention to close the store at this time. We are here tonight pointing out the fact that we have invested in the store, and we wouldn’t invest more into the store to anchor that, to keep that place, and to continue to be part of this community.”

Kroger representatives said the store’s lease will be up in 2031, and there are no plans to leave Southfield.

Stevens added that the Southfield Kroger is “not a bottom performer financially, but they are a low performer financially, and a fuel center would help with the bottom line,” which would assist with further projects inside that building.

Garett Foley, the facilities and construction manager for the Kroger Co. of Michigan, provided the specific improvements that the council requested at the last meeting. He shared that the Kroger Co. has invested $1,050,000 in the Southfield store this year by replacing 5 HVAC rooftop units for $200,000, which was completed on Aug. 30; replacing frozen food doors for $300,000, which was completed on Oct. 11; and replacing the entire refrigeration system for $550,000, which is scheduled to be completed on Nov. 15.

The planned improvements for 2025 include a $4,174,000 investment. The fuel center would’ve accounted for $3,174,000 of that investment. The other $1 million would go toward a remodel with new dairy, beverage, produce and service-deli cases and adjusted lineup; meat islands; bakery fixtures; produce tables; front-end merchandisers; relaminated check lanes; exterior signs; repainted, updated and new shelving across the entire store; updated vestibule décor; and new tile.

“After this last meeting, we — myself, Garett — we went to the store along with district and executive management, walked the store to the conditions and see what can be done. That’s where the list of improvements … came from. We were able to get some of that funding brought forward to the next year instead of the three years that we discussed earlier. We also looked at what can the store do differently to improve the conditions that the city is seeing every day,” Stevens said.

Stevens said the store is working on training the store staff how to properly stock the shelves to be presentable, clean and full.

“You are absolutely correct. We do need better conditions in that store,” Stevens said. “So we want the city to understand this is a priority to us. Someone on the council last time said that some stores require more focus than others. We agreed completely. So this is going to be one of those focus stores.”

“So I probably have an issue with the word ‘required,’ because it should be they should just get upgraded like all the other locations in the other cities,” Councilwoman Coretta Houge said. “So I don’t want to make it seem as if Southfield residents and all those that frequent and utilize that Kroger’s, that they require some special attention that no other area does. So, I don’t think that word is appropriate. It just simply is a store that was ignored by Kroger.”

Houge added that she is grateful that Kroger representatives came before the council at the meeting because at the last meeting, they did not go up.

“I’m just disappointed that you may have seen where, at our last meeting, some of us weren’t feeling this project too well, and now we’ve got this all planned that, again, should have been part of the process before you came to us to ask for that, if you cared about that location, just like the one on Eight Mile in Livonia and all that,” Houge said.

“It’s just that I hate that there has been no initiative on Kroger’s end to give us the type of Kroger that we deserve, like any other suburb, and that now that you want something, we have to give in order to see if we’re going to get that in return. We shouldn’t have to play this game of chicken like we did with the last location to call each other’s bluff. We should both care.”

Councilwoman Nancy Banks compared the Southfield Kroger to the Bloomfield Hills Kroger, expressing that Southfield residents drive to the Bloomfield store, which is smaller, busy and cleaner than the Southfield store, and does not have a fuel center.

Councilwoman Yolanda Haynes expressed frustration that the Southfield Kroger doesn’t have grocery items that she and other residents need in stock and encouraged the Kroger representatives to focus on customer satisfaction first.

The property manager for the center, Ron Hall, said, “It just seems to me, as a disinterested third party, it’s like you want to penalize Kroger for the condition of the store, which affects the entire center. I mean, it seems to me, being good council people that want the city of Southfield to progress, that you would approve, you’d want to help them by approving the gas station now and look for the future. They’re going to extend the lease.”

In a 0-6 vote, the motion to approve the request to conditionally rezone 0.78 acres of land at 19991 W. 12 Mile Road to a Kroger Fuel Station failed.