What could happen to Macon's Pio Nono Kroger building once it goes dark?

It’s been less than a week since Kroger announced plans to close its Pio Nono Avenue store next month, but some people are already speculating what could happen there.

Will the building go dark and sit empty for years after it closes April 20? Could it be repurposed as something else? Would it be torn down and something new built on the spot?

The Cincinnati-based grocery chain owns the 84,000-square-foot building at 400 Pio Nono Ave., and its company spokesman said the company does not have “any information on the future of the building … at this time.”

Bruce Elliott, owner of Bruce Elliott & Associates, a Macon commercial real estate company, said he has seen a lot of grocery stores open and close since he grew up here, but he was sorry to learn of Kroger’s plans.

“It has served a terrific purpose to an important area of town that was not being served anymore by a grocery,” he said.

He remembers several grocery stores that served Macon’s urban market over the years. There was a Colonial store on Ingleside Avenue, Piggly Wiggly stores off Riverside Drive near Ingleside , on Vineville Avenue and at Pierce Avenue and Riverside. Also, there was an A&P grocery in the shopping center where Natalia’s restaurant used to be on Riverside Drive. A Kroger was at Northside and Riverside before it moved out to Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard.

Just as residents spread out to the suburbs, retailers and grocery stores have followed them.

While the Pio Nono location might be attractive to another grocery store, Elliott said he doesn’t think Kroger would allow a competitor to buy the building.

“I’ve seen folks like Food Depot go in these places in other markets, but they also like to be close to their competition, and there is no competition there (on Pio Nono) anymore,” he said.

What does Elliott think will happen to the Pio Nono building?

“(Kroger) will just sit on it for a while, in my humble opinion,” he said. “It will just go dark. It’s sad. … And it will be sorely missed by everybody.”

But he understands that Kroger is “looking out for their shareholder’s bottom line, and shareholders don’t want to lose money. … And I’m just speculating, but if they are losing more money than they are making on an asset, perhaps the asset is better used by not bleeding money.”

Jim Rollins, a broker with The Summit Group, another Macon commercial real estate company with a long history in Macon, said that while some large buildings such as Kroger might be divided up into smaller shops, he doesn’t think that will happen with the Kroger building.

“It’s isolated. It’s kind of a destination location,” Rollins said. “And it’s very hard.”

He’s been trying to sell the former Piggly Wiggly/BiLo store on Eisenhower, “which has been empty forever.” He’s now trying to lease it for warehouse space, realizing he may “get push back” from the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission.

“But there is no other retailer that’s going to fill that space, so what do you do with the building but repurpose it?” he said.

It's likely that the Kroger building will face the same issues, but Rollins said he hasn’t had time to reflect much on its possible use.

“I’ll tell you one use for it: the demand would be (there for) air conditioned storage,” he said. “It would not be much of an impact on the community because you don’t have a lot of traffic in those places. … And you might be able to use the parking lot for a small shop. That’s just one thing that pops into my mind.”

It’s also possible that another company could take over the gasoline center on the property, he said.

But Rollins doesn’t think the neighborhood would like to see something like apartments built on the site. Besides, the apartment market is not as strong as it was a few years ago, because so many of them have been built.

While ex-Mayor C. Jack Ellis this week called for the company to reconsider its decision, Kroger, similar to other retailers, has been closing underperforming stores.

Earlier this year, Kroger confirmed plans to close six locations in various markets, according to a January article in Supermarket News.com. The grocery chain closed a store in Augusta last year, three stores in Mississippi this year, and a store in Savannah, which opened 26 years ago, closed last week — all due to declining sales and negative profit over an extended period of time, various reports said.

John Karolefski, a Cleveland, Ohio-based veteran analyst who has followed the grocery industry for more than 25 years and editor of GroceryStores.com, said Kroger doesn’t make the decision lightly to close a store.

“Kroger is the largest operators of traditional grocery stores in America, and they’re one of the best operators,” Karolefski said. “If they are closing the store, they probably have a good reason for it. They continue to build new stores.”

As to what might happen with the building, “it depends on the area,” he said. “That is a big building, so someone big has to come in there. Maybe it will turn into a warehouse or a distribution center for some grocery wholesaler.

"Do some buildings stay empty? Yes, they do. It just depends.”

This story was originally published March 30, 2018 at 2:19 PM with the headline "What could happen to Macon's Pio Nono Kroger building once it goes dark?."