Independence approves rezoning request to bring grocery store to shuttered JCPenney site

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.

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JCPenney closed its Independence location in the Bolger Square shopping center six years ago, but the space is finally getting a new lease on life.

The Independence City Council unanimously approved a rezoning plan Monday that paves the way for the Phillips Edison Group, a Cincinnati-based real estate investment firm that specializes in neighborhood grocery stores, to open a Dillons grocery store in the vacant space.

The property, which saw a rezoning change in 2023, reverts to a general commercial zoning designation, which it had been from 1969 until three years ago.

Phillips Edison said the Dillons would include a full-service grocery store, drive-through pharmacy, online order pickup and gas station, which would be located in the southwest corner of the parking lot between the 123,000-square-foot building and a Casey’s that was rebranded in recent years.

The retail development is anchored by a Target, Merchant Square, Longhorn Steakhouse and other retail shops.

After the JCPenney closed, the city rezoned the property in 2023 to high-density residential/planned unit development, but there was opposition to the proposed 358-unit complex and it was never built.

City staff recommended approval of the rezoning request in a late August report. The Independence Planning Commission unanimously supported the project.

A first reading on the request took place Sept. 21 with a public hearing and second reading Monday before council approval.

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