The Boone County Fiscal Court is close to approving a zoning change request that would pave the way for The Shoppes at Hebron Pointe, a new commercial development near Richwood Road that has long been speculated to be anchored by a Publix grocery store.
On Tuesday, Boone County held the first reading of an ordinance that would change the zoning of 53 acres of land from residential and commercial to commercial/planned development. Midland Atlantic Properties, a Cincinnati-based company that specializes in mixed-use developments with grocery stores, is making the request.
A second reading of the zoning change request has been added to the agenda for the Tax Court’s Sept. 3 meeting. If the court votes for the request, the zoning change will become official and developers can move forward.
“The application seeks to rezone this approximately 53-acre site from Graves Road Residential and Graves Road Commercial to Graves Road Commercial with a planned development overlay,” said Michael Schwartz, Boone County’s land use planning officer.
The site in question is located at the northeast and northwest corners of the Graves Road and Worldwide Boulevard intersection. The change also affects portions of the neighboring properties 2477 Treetop Lane, 2355 Water Tower Dr. and 2338 Williams Road.
Midland Atlantic plans to build a 50,000-square-foot grocery store and four smaller retail spaces ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 square feet. The grocery store’s parking lot will have 276 spaces. A 3,000-square-foot drive-thru restaurant will also be built adjacent to the retail space.
Plans also include a 5,000-square-foot convenience store, a 8,000-square-foot retail store and a 4,300-square-foot restaurant.
According to Boone County land records, Larry and Christina Barnes, Roy Smith, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and KJCA LLC each own a parcel of land within the 53-acre development site.
Midland Atlantic is behind another project in Northern Kentucky, Cold Spring Pointe, a mixed-use development that will include a Publix store. The grocer has officially confirmed two more locations in Boone County: Florence and Walton.
Commissioner Chet Hand asked Midland Atlantic Development Manager Clayton Riney if he knew which grocery store chain would anchor the project.
Despite the public speculation and the development’s similarity to Cold Spring Pointe, Riney said he could not make the announcement. He noted, however, that Midland Atlantic knows the answer.
“Unfortunately, we can’t announce it yet, but hopefully it will be ‘public’ knowledge in the next three or four months,” Riney said.
However, Riney mentioned that the retail space next to the grocery store would be leased by “national users.”
“And then the back-end retailers, the typical retailers that are part of the grocery stores. These are all nationwide customers that we think the county and the community would be happy to have,” he said.
One of the confirmed tenants is a Wawa supermarket, according to Boone County Judge and Executive Director Gary Moore.
The Boone County Planning Commission has attached a condition to the zoning change request that prohibits truck fueling at Wawa. From the Planning Commission’s perspective, banning truck fueling would help reduce traffic from large semi-trucks around the development.
At a previous planning commission meeting, Riney said Midland Atlantic expects to open the facility in early 2026.
