Kroger Is Coming Back to Portage. Here's What Has Actually Been Decided

"Not many department stores (are) willing to fill that large of a space anymore," Pete Dame, Portage's chief development officer, told WOOD TV in early October. "So it solves a problem we thought we might have, but with a very solid use that I think many in the community are very excited about."

The problem he means is the long, empty strip mall on South Westnedge Avenue south of Milham Avenue. Joann, Big Lots, Chuck E. Cheese and Rent-A-Center used to be there. Kroger now owns all of it. As of late October, there's no site plan on file and no opening date. Kroger has finished the hard part, which was buying every piece of the center. It hasn't filed the one document that starts the construction clock.

Kroger Bought the Center in Two Pieces

The purchase took more than a year, and the order matters. Here's the sequence from city property records as reported by local outlets.

MLive first reported the first purchase in August 2025. At that point the city's spokesperson said Portage hadn't received any plans from Kroger, and Kroger didn't respond to a request for comment. The 20,700-square-foot Joann space on the north end was a gap in that deal. Joann had closed earlier in 2025, and the space belonged to a different owner that had held it since 2015.

That second purchase is the part that changed in 2026. According to WOOD TV, Kroger closed on the Joann parcel this summer, and Crain's Grand Rapids Business broke the news on October 1. Owning the entire row matters because of how Kroger wants to use it.

One reporting difference is worth flagging. WWMT described the full shopping center as a single purchase for more than $10.3 million. WOOD and MLive both separate the 2025 deal from the later Joann parcel, and the table follows their account.

The Plan Is to Connect the Old Stores

Kroger isn't planning to knock the building down. Dame described a remodel that links the former storefronts into one grocery store. "They plan to reuse the existing buildings and not start over from scratch and use the entire stretch of buildings that are adjacent to each other, but to interconnect them, remodel it, put a new face on it, and use it as a Kroger," he told WWMT.

He gave WOOD more detail. Most of the demolition would happen inside, "to get rid of walls they don't need in between the formerly separate parts of the strip center." The front would be stripped so the facade looks like a typical Kroger, and he said the store would probably have a drive-thru pharmacy lane.

This is why the Joann purchase counts as more than a footnote. A plan built on connecting adjacent storefronts doesn't work well with a separately owned space at one end. The Big Lots space alone was more than 50,000 square feet, and with Joann's 20,700 square feet added, Kroger controls the whole run of buildings it described to the city.

Zoning isn't standing in the way either. "(The property) is zoned for that, so it is intended for large, big-box retail," Dame told WOOD. He added that Kroger approached the city about the idea and did its due diligence before it started buying the properties.

What Hasn't Happened Yet

With the property bought and the zoning in place, the next step belongs to Kroger. As of October 5, no formal site plan had been submitted to the city. Kroger can't apply for building permits until a site plan is approved, and WOOD reported it isn't clear when construction might start. WWMT reported the same day that the city was still waiting, and that the timing of a submission was still to be determined.

City records from later in October show the same thing. Portage canceled its October 15 Planning Commission meeting, saying there were "no projects ready for review at this time." The October 20 City Council agenda had no Kroger or South Westnedge item.

Kroger also hasn't spoken publicly about Portage. The idea that it plans to open a store here comes from city officials. WOOD and WWMT both contacted the company in October and hadn't heard back when they published. Nobody has announced a store format, an opening season, or whether there'll be a fuel center.

The Chili's is the other open question. The standalone Chili's Grill & Bar west of the strip mall came with the 2025 purchase, and a large parking lot separates it from the mall. Dame told WOOD he wasn't sure what Kroger plans for that building.

If you want to follow this as it moves, here's the order the city described:

1. Kroger submits a formal site plan to the City of Portage.
2. The city reviews and approves the site plan.
3. Kroger applies for building permits.
4. Construction starts on the interior remodel and new facade.

Portage posts its meeting agendas on its CivicClerk portal. As of October 22, Planning Commission meetings were listed for November 5 and November 19, and City Council meetings for November 4 and November 17. None of those agendas had been posted yet. The city's news releases page is the other place to check.

Two Grocers Side by Side Isn't New in Portage

When this store opens, Kroger will join Aldi, Harding's and Fresh Thyme along the South Westnedge commercial corridor, WWMT reported. Dame doesn't expect another grocery store to cause problems for the ones already operating, and he points to local history. "When I grew up here, there was a Kroger there in the Southland Mall and a Harding's," he told WWMT. "So, there were two grocery stores almost right next to each other."

The Portage District Library has a record of that earlier store. Its local history archive includes an image of a Kroger at Southland Shopping Center dated February 1973.

Since then the chain has left the region almost entirely. MLive reported that most Southwest Michigan Kroger stores had closed by the end of the 1980s. The last one in the region, in Sturgis, closed in November 2020. When the Sturgis Journal reported the closing, Kroger said that store hadn't been profitable for several years. As of August 2025, the closest Kroger stores to Portage were in Jackson and Lansing. Most of the chain's 120 Michigan stores were in Southeast Michigan. WOOD described it more directly in October: more than 100 Michigan locations and none in West Michigan.

The timing of the first purchase adds context. In June 2025, the same month it closed on the Portage parcels, Kroger announced it would close about 60 underperforming stores over 18 months, roughly 5% of its 1,200 locations. The same announcement said it would open at least 30 new stores that year, with faster openings planned in "high-growth geographies" the year after. So the Portage purchase happened while the company was cutting stores elsewhere, and it has now spent $13.55 million on two transactions here. That total is just the two reported prices added together.

For anyone living near Milham and Westnedge, the next thing to look for is a Kroger site plan on a Planning Commission agenda. An announcement isn't the milestone here.

If you live near South Westnedge and want to know how a project like this could affect a home you own or are thinking about buying, Mary Noneman will go through what's on file with you and keep you posted as Portage's agendas fill in. Contact Us whenever you'd like to talk it through.