Grocery store, car wash proposed for former New Kensington Kmart site

A developer wants to build a grocery store and car wash on the former Kmart site in New Kensington in what would be a $1.8 million project, according to a paperwork submitted to the city.

Demolition of the former Kmart store on Tarentum Bridge Road began recently. The store closed in January 2019.

The property owner, 100 Riverview LP, submitted a redevelopment plan to the city that shows a proposed, unidentified grocery store built on part of the site where Kmart stood and attached to the rest of the plaza. A ModWash car wash is shown at one corner of the property.

A free-standing building with three retail spaces with apparent drive-thrus on each end would be built in the middle of the parking lot in front of the former Kmart site.

The car wash would require a variance from the city. The zoning hearing board is scheduled to hold a hearing on the request when it meets at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 at city hall, 301 11th St.

The developer is aware that the board last year denied a variance for a car wash to be built in the same zoning district, C-2 general commercial, on the other side of Tarentum Bridge Road, zoning Officer Tony Males said.

Getting a variance requires proving a hardship, which Males said the applicant in that earlier case did not accomplish.

“The zoning hearing board was almost left with no choice other than to deny the variance,” he said.

Sam Rossi, a portfolio manager for property manager Madison Acquisitions, could not be reached Tuesday.

In its application for the variance, 100 Riverview LP argues that the car wash is necessary for the rest of the property to be redeveloped. It plans to subdivide the roughly 1-acre portion of the site and sell it to ModWash.

100 Riverview LP argues that the location of the car wash “is the only feasible use for a difficult and dangerous section of the property.”

“The car wash area on the site is currently a dark, narrow, 90-degree turn area that vehicular traffic uses as a cut-through from Tarentum Bridge Road and Craigdell Road,” 100 Riverview LP said in a letter giving its reasons for seeking a variance.

“As it is currently configured, it imposes a safety burden. The new facility and the new traffic pattern it will create will improve traffic flow and traffic safety by eliminating this corner, providing better lighting and provide a more open area and better visibility/sight lines for traffic,” 100 Riverview LP said.

In its letter, 100 Riverview LP noted that there are already two car washes nearby in the same zoning district, one at a nearby Giant Eagle GetGo and another off Caldwell Avenue.

It argued that granting a variance to allow for a third would not alter the character of the neighborhood, impair the use or development of adjacent property, or be detrimental to public welfare.