While gargantuan cranes hefted beams weighing 134,000 pounds each into place to form the frame of a new entrance bridge at the Crossings Mall in Elkview on Monday, one of the mall's anchor stores announced that it will return after the replacement bridge is completed.
Kroger announced in a news release that renovations on its Elkview store are already underway. The store, along with all others at the shopping center, has been closed for nearly a year, since floodwater washed away the culvert bridge leading into the shopping center.
Fifteen new jobs will be created as a result of the remodel, Kroger said. Nearly 100 employees at the Elkview store were transferred to other stores during the past 11 months.
The store will have new decor, flooring and shelving, and the exterior will be painted.
"When we finish, you will think you are in a brand-new store," Dan Workman, a store manager, said in the release.
The remodel will not be completed until after the bridge construction is complete, the release said.
The fuel center at the store also will be reopened.
"This is great news," Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said. "Not only is Kroger planning to re-open, but they are making new investment in the Crossings Mall Kroger that will enhance the store and give customers even more selections and better service than before."
Commissioner Ben Salango called the renovation a "welcome development" for Elkview. He said he hopes it will attract more satellite stores to the mall.
The County Commission and other agencies had been embroiled in legal battles with the owner of the shopping center as it entered bankruptcy. The property, at one point, was scheduled to be auctioned off.
Nearly 70 workers at another anchor tenant, Kmart, lost their jobs in February when a solution to provide access to the property was at an impasse.
The new bridge is expected to be completed sometime in July.