Giant Kroger store planned for Portsmouth

A 124,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace store is planned on the site of a former high school in Portsmouth.

Norfolk-based S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. said the Kroger Limited Partnership I has purchased 13.5 acres at the former I.C. Norcom High School site for $1.8 million from Portsmouth's Economic Development Authority.

The giant store will include 94,000 square feet devoted to groceries, with the rest of the space used for general merchandise, a pharmacy, health and beauty products, and jewelry.

The Portsmouth store will be the  second Kroger Marketplace location in Hampton Roads region. Kroger Mid-Atlantic plans to build an additional four to five locations in the area during the next two years.

S.L. Nusbaum said the store is expected to generate more than $850,000 annually in tax revenue for Portsmouth.

Tommy Drew, John Litz and Jim Gresock of S.L. Nusbaum represented Kroger in the Portsmouth deal.

The commercial real estate company is the exclusive representative for Kroger Mid-Atlantic in its search for sites in the region for new Kroger Marketplace stores.

Kroger recently purchased Harris Teeter Supermarkets in a $2.4 billion deal in which Kroger acquired 212 stores in eight Southeast and mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C.