The Kroger Moving Up Haggerty Road Leaves a Bigger Question at 14 Mile

"A commitment by Kroger to backfill the vacated store (former Hiller's) with a quality user." That line comes from Commerce Township's own January 2025 Planning Department report. It's the most useful sentence written so far about the new Kroger going up on Haggerty Road.

Most coverage of the project has focused on what's coming: a bigger store, a fuel center and a cheese counter. Those are real. But the new store will open just north of the current one. For anyone whose weekly grocery run ends at 14 Mile and Haggerty, the lasting change is the building Kroger leaves behind. The township has a reason to care about that, and it raised the question at the project's public hearing.

One Parcel North, a Bigger Store

Today's store is the Kroger that the company calls Fourteen Mile, at 39950 W 14 Mile Rd. Longtime residents may remember it by its earlier name. The township's planning report calls it "the existing Kroger (formerly Hillers) at the northwest corner of 14 Mile and Haggerty."

The replacement is going up at the southwest corner of Springvale Drive and Haggerty Road, according to DBusiness in August. In July, WhatNow Detroit reported that Jarbou Ronnisch Construction had broken ground. That story also said the new building "will replace the current Kroger in the plaza just south of the construction site." If you know the area, the site sits behind the Chipotle, 2941 Mediterranean Street Food and Starbucks, with Home Depot and Staples across Springvale.

Here's what the reporting says the new store will include:

Size figures vary a little by source. WhatNow reported 104,000 square feet, and the township's 2025 reports used 100,000 and 102,000. By any of those counts, it's a big building for this corner.

The Site Was Approved for 187 Apartments First

The grocery store is going into a development called Midtown on Haggerty, on the west side of Haggerty Road north of 14 Mile. The township approved it in 2021 as a planned unit development. The plan included 187 apartments on the back of the property, behind three retail buildings facing the road. The township's August 2025 report says the three retail buildings "were built and occupied, but the apartments on the back half of the site never were."

Developer Schafer Development now describes the project as three retail buildings totaling 23,000 square feet, anchored by a 103,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace and fuel center. That one grocery building is more than four times the size of all the retail already open at Midtown combined. The back half of the site went from planned housing to the largest building in the development.

Here's the approval timeline as township records show it:

1. January 6, 2025. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the change, then took no formal action so the developer could revise its plans.
2. February 3, 2025. The amendment was tabled at the applicant's request.
3. May 2025. The Township Board approved the amended development plan.
4. August 2025. The township reported that the developer and Kroger were still finalizing shared-access agreements. Those agreements could affect driveway layout and sign placement, so the detailed site plan was moved to a September Planning Commission date.
5. July 2026. WhatNow Detroit reported construction underway.
6. August 2026. DBusiness reported a proposed May 2027 opening.

What the Township Asked For in Return

A project like this needed exceptions to the site's B-2 zoning. Under that zoning, a fuel center is normally a special land use allowed only in B-3. Multiple drive-throughs inside Midtown would also have needed separate special-use approval. With those exceptions on the table, much of the January 2025 hearing focused on the public benefits the project would include. The planning report lists four topics of discussion:

• Sidewalk and pathway extensions along and between Haggerty Road, 14 Mile Road and M-5
• A commitment from Kroger not to appeal the newly assessed value of its new store, as long as the assessment rests on sound analysis
• A commitment from Kroger to backfill the store it leaves with a quality user
• A high-quality store with quality design and exterior materials

The third item comes with a local precedent attached. The same report says the backfill commitment was meant to avoid "a repeat of the former Hiller's at Union Lake and Commerce Roads," which it says sat vacant "for over a decade." Commerce Township has already seen a former grocery building on a main corner sit empty for years, and it brought that history into the 14 Mile conversation.

The old building is the part of this project that will shape the 14 Mile and Haggerty plaza for years after the new store opens.

What Is Still Open

Three things haven't been settled publicly yet.

The opening date. May 2027 is Kroger's proposed date, as reported by DBusiness in late August. WhatNow's July story said no estimated date was available yet. Schafer Development's project page lists 2028 as a completion date but doesn't say whether that means the store or the development as a whole. At the Planning Commission's August 10, 2026 meeting, the township's deputy building official said only that the township was "in the process of dealing with the Kroger project." For now, May 2027 is a target date.

The next tenant. The township's August 2025 report says the 14 Mile store "would be repurposed." A Kroger commitment to find a quality user came up during the January 2025 public-benefit discussion. No replacement business has been announced.

The pathways. Walking and biking connections along Haggerty, 14 Mile and M-5 were part of the public-benefit discussion. Their routes and timing haven't been published.

When the old store's future does come up for public discussion, it will most likely be at a Commerce Township Planning Commission meeting. The Planning Department's monthly reports on commercetwp.com are where this project has been tracked from the start.

Your Grocery Options Until Then

Nothing changes yet at the Fourteen Mile store. Commerce Township's other two Krogers, at 47060 W Pontiac Trail and 2905 Union Lake Road, aren't part of this project, per WhatNow Detroit. Kroger is building a second replacement store in Dearborn on a similar schedule, with a proposed June 2027 opening. In both cases, the company says the new buildings will replace older locations.

If you own a home near 14 Mile and Haggerty and wonder how a new anchor store, or an empty one, could affect your corner of Commerce Township, I'm happy to walk you through what I'm seeing locally. I'm Anne Shields with Anne Shields, and my focus is you. Schedule a Free Consultation, and let's talk about what this change means for your plans.