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Demolition of Old Kmart on Blowing Rock Road Begins, Publix To Open on Site in 2017

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The old Kmart is in the process of being demolished on Friday to make way for a Publix. Photo by Ken Ketchie

By Jesse Wood

In order to make way for a Publix Super Markets, demolition of the old Kmart building on Blowing Rock Road in Boone has begun.

The store will open at Blowing Rock Road and Postal Street sometime in 2017. A specific date hasn’t been established yet, but a representative with Publix said the goal is, of course, to open as soon as possible.

The new store will be about 49,000 square feet in size and feature a drive thru Publix pharmacy. The parking lot will accommodate 250 vehicles, according to plans submitted to the Boone Planning and Inspections department.

The redevelopment is estimated to cost $9 million.

publix booneThe NCDOT has recommended that a new intersection with a pedestrian signal be installed at the intersection of Postal Street and Blowing Rock Road for this proposed development.

A Publix spokesperson previously said that the average Publix store features 125 to 150 employees with the majority of these hires coming from within the local community.

Kmart closed down in September 2014, and months before the “everything-must-go” sale last summer, a group purchased the property for $6,975,000 in June.

This group was Equity Resource Partners III LLC of Georgia (40.5 percent), Granite Falls Land & Investment of North Carolina (47 percent), Watson Commercial Development Inc. of North Carolina (5 percent) and Robert Carroll Carver of North Carolina (7.5 percent).

After months of speculation and declines to comment from the development group, Publix and other potential buyers, the group sold the property to Publix in November 2015 for $10.5 million.

For more stories about Publix coming to Boone, click here. 

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