LOVELAND — The King Soopers-anchored shopping center proposed for north Loveland is moving through the city approval process.

The King Soopers Marketplace — a 123,000-square-foot megastore twice as big as the company’s traditional grocery stores — would be built southwest of the intersection of U.S. 287 and 71st Street.

Tyler Carlson, principal with Evergreen Devco, which is developing the property, said the King Soopers could open in January 2018.

During a neighborhood meeting Thursday evening, senior planner Troy Bliss said the city staff has completed an initial review of the application, returned its comments to the developer and is expecting a resubmittal from Evergreen next week.

“If everything goes the way it’s planned, this will all be handled administratively,” Bliss said, explaining that the project wouldn’t need Planning Commission or City Council approval unless someone files a formal appeal.

A handful of owners of business and property owners attended Thursday’s meeting at the Loveland Public Library to hear an update from Carlson and Bliss.

Although the participants had questions about traffic and storm drainage, no one openly objected to the retail development.

“It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen,” said Greg Snyder, president of Edwards Refrigeration at 6712 N. Franklin Ave.

Snyder, head of the Peakview Commercial Complex business condo owners association, said he fought a proposal 10 or 15 years ago to change the area’s zoning to residential because he believes there isn’t enough industrial property available in Loveland.

Traffic improvements

Evergreen’s Carlson said his company plans to make improvements to help deal with the increased traffic that the development would bring:

• Extend 69th Street east to U.S. 287 (Garfield Avenue). Pending Colorado Department of Transportation approval, the intersection would allow right turns onto southbound Garfield, right turns from southbound Garfield into the development and left turns in from northbound Garfield, Carlson said.

• Restripe eastbound 71st Street so that there would be two left-turn lanes onto northbound Garfield, one through lane and one southbound right-turn lane.

• Realign Harrison Avenue between 69th and 71st streets because it currently runs through the property. The new alignment would be farther west, along the back side of King Soopers, Carlson said.

• Modify the turning radiuses of some of the intersections in the area. Carlson said he learned from UPS, which has a distribution center at 400 W. 69th St., that its trucks tend to clip the curbs when negotiating the turns in the area. As a result of the proposed changes, Carlson said “the trucks that are coming around the corners won’t be jumping so many curbs and shaking the boxes that you just ordered from Amazon.”

The 20-acre site is owned by three different owners. Carlson said he expects to close on the purchase of the properties by the end of 2016 and start building the new Harrison Avenue in the first quarter of 2017.

After the new Harrison is built, the original alignment would be removed, Carlson said. Bliss said the realignment of Harrison Avenue would need to go before the Planning Commission and City Council for approval.

Retail additions

Carlson said his company also would build a separate King Soopers gas station within the development and a 15,000-square-foot retail building along Garfield Avenue that could hold as many as eight tenants such as restaurants and shops.

“In addition, we’ve got five out-lots in the property that we will start marketing, probably this summer,” he said. Evergreen representatives are open to suggestions for businesses to recruit for the development — such as restaurants, banks and a day-care center — Carlson said.

King Soopers spokeswoman Kelli McGannon wasn’t available for comment Monday. In January, she said King Soopers was looking for a site for a new store in Loveland, and the 71st Avenue property was a possibility, but she couldn’t confirm the site.

Craig Young: 970-635-3634, cyoung@reporter-herald.com, www.twitter.com/CraigYoungRH.