It's been nearly three years since Kmart closed its store at 2535 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins, with few visible signs of redevelopment.

The parking lot houses a seasonal Christmas tree lot, several dozen spaces for commuters hopping on MAX buses and a new crop of potholes that open nearly every month.

Despite the lack of progress, King Soopers officials say they still hope to break ground this year on a new mega-store to replace the smaller, older store at 2325 S. College Ave.

"We continue to work with the city on the final site development plans including the size and orientation of our store," spokesman Adam Williamson said in an email. They hope to finalize plans in the near future, he said, so they can project a timeline for demolition of the former Kmart and store opening.

No new plans have been submitted to the city's planning department since preliminary plans were unveiled in 2016.

"We are working toward getting construction started as soon as possible," Williamson said.

King Soopers' parent company, Kroger, has agreed to be part of the city's urban renewal efforts at the corner of Drake Road and College Avenue, according to Josh Birks, the city's economic health director.

And the company is expected to honor its easement with the city to provide 75 surface parking spaces for MAX riders, he said.

The city still hopes to get a little more from King Soopers through its urban renewal authority, or URA, which would make tax increment financing and other incentives available to the national grocer.

Tax increment financing, or TIF, is a development tool that allows the URA to use additional property tax revenue generated by the planned improvements to help pay for related public infrastructure or facade improvements.

"We still hope to get structured parking there," Birks said, either on the King Soopers site or across Drake Road at Brinkman's planned housing and hotel project called The Portico. "The URA would provide support to Portico and public improvements in the area that would include some kind of parking solution," he said.

Transfort, the city's transportation system, is studying where it needs parking the most throughout the city so Birks is hesitant to say the city is fully committed to a parking structure at Drake and College.

"We want to do this from data and a strategic perspective, knowing parking is a challenge in the area," he said. "But it's a matter of what is the best strategic approach to parking in that area."

King Soopers officials did not comment on the likelihood of a parking garage on site. A precursor to "serious conversations" about a parking garage is establishing an urban renewal authority, which is currently tied up in process because the URA laws changed recently.

Birks is negotiating with "five to six" entities regarding allocation of tax revenue, as required by the new law.

According to preliminary plans, the new store will feature a new design that offers more natural light and modern exterior concrete masonry, which allows the building to go up faster and requires less exterior maintenance.

The 50,000-square-foot King Soopers just to the north, which opened in 1964, is about half the size of newer-concept stores, including the North College Marketplace King Soopers.