Despite sale, Mariano's plans to build in Naperville, Bloomingdale, Des Plaines
Despite its pending sale to Kroger Co., Mariano's still plans to build grocery stores in Naperville, Bloomingdale and Des Plaines, officials said Thursday.
In the case of the Naperville location at 1300 S. Naper Blvd., construction is already underway after the old Dominick's store there was demolished. The new store is expected to open in late 2016 or 2017.
“It seemed clear there would be a new player coming into the market after Dominick's left,” said Christine Jeffries, president and CEO of the Naperville Development Partnership. “Kroger was probably the right kind of size to come into the market. ... We're not concerned about it, as long as Mariano's isn't concerned about it.”
Cincinnati-based Kroger announced Wednesday it will buy Mariano's parent company Roundy's for about $800 million, including debt. Mariano's officials said Kroger wants to expand the number of Mariano's stores and keep Chairman and CEO Bob Mariano of Inverness at the helm.
“We intend to keep the stores the same,” Mariano told the Daily Herald Wednesday.
In Bloomingdale, Mariano's plans to replace an old Dominick's in the Stratford Crossing Shopping Center at Gary and Schick avenues.
The construction timeline remains the same, and an opening is expected in early 2017, said Kevin Mottlowitz of GMX Real Estate Group, which represents the shopping center owner.
The proposed Des Plaines store on the northeast corner of Golf and Mount Prospect roads is still on target to open during the first quarter of 2017, said Dean Kelley, president of Bartlett-based Abbott Land & Investment Corp., which is developing the site for Mariano's. The store will replace a former bus business which is scheduled to be demolished in about two weeks.
And when it does open, it'll be a Mariano's — not a Kroger.
“This will not impact Des Plaines and Mariano's,” Kelley said of the Wednesday announcement that Roundy's is being sold to Kroger. “It'll be a Mariano's.”
Kelley, who has worked with Milwaukee-based Roundy's to develop three Mariano's stores in the Chicago area, said he's received lots of calls from people interested to know what the sale to Kroger means for the local Mariano's stores.
Kelley sees it as a positive.
“I think it'll help them grow,” he said. “It seems like they're keeping the same team in place. Bob Mariano is Mariano's. I don't think the consumer will even notice.”
Kroger's acquisition of Roundy's is expected to close by late December.
• Daily Herald Business Writer Anna Marie Kukec contributed to this report.