Expansions by two major companies in Bowling Green – the Kroger Co. and Houchens-owned Pan-Oston – will be submitted for approval by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County on Thursday night.

The Kroger store at 350 U.S. 31-W By-Pass will expand by about 21,000 square feet for the addition of a Kitchen Place, sushi store, olive bar, Nature’s Market Nutrition Center and several expanded grocery sections, according to Kroger spokesperson Melissa Eads.

The cost of the project was not disclosed.

Facing the building from the parking lot, the expansion will be noticeable on the right side of the building, Eads said.

The store will be about 85,000 square feet – one of the largest Kroger stores in the southern Kentucky-Tennessee area – by the time it is completed in late 2007 or early 2008, Eads said.

Construction is likely to begin next spring, if weather cooperates.

&#8220The Bowling Green market and the fact that it continues to be so economically strong and continues to grow – those factors are always taken into consideration,” Eads said. &#8220We see the strength of what’s there now, and what we believe is still yet to come.”

The Kitchen Place will be the first of its kind in Bowling Green and one of the few Kroger has in Kentucky.

Eads said customers can look forward to top-quality items such as small appliances, dishes, placemats, utensils, bakeware and decorative items for the kitchen.

&#8220Everywhere we’ve been putting them, they’ve been well-received,” Eads said.

The expansion at Kroger’s bypass location is the latest renovation Kroger Co. has made in the area as the company continues to put emphasis on the Bowling Green market.

In late August, the company remodeled its Scottsville Road location and last year, the Campbell Lane location was renovated.

&#8220Bowling Green continues to be one of those areas we believe in and we’re focused on,” Eads said.

Kroger’s detailed development plan includes all required parking, drainage and landscaping. The property, which contains about seven acres of land, is zoned highway business.

The site’s main access will remain from U.S. 31-W By-Pass and from Riverwood Avenue, but rear site access is being shifted to the south, according to planning documents. The drainage plan for the project has yet to be approved.

Kroger is also requesting a variance from the 250-foot setback from a residential district for a drive-through window, in order to move its pharmacy pick-up window about 100 feet further from the southern end of the building.

Meanwhile, Pan-Oston seeks approval for its detailed development plan to expand its plant at 6944 Louisville Road, which was announced in early September.

Pan-Oston’s manufacturing and warehouse building, which is in Scotty’s Industrial Park, sits on about 18 acres of land and will expand by 105,000 square feet.

The expansion includes the addition of some 200 jobs. The total cost of the expansion, including the purchase of automated fabrication equipment, is $8 million.

In September, Pan-Oston president Jim Vance said the expansion includes retooling parking lot spaces and changing the plant’s layout to maximize efficiency.

The material flow and shipping sections of the plant are on the same side of the plant now, but Vance said those sections will be moved to opposite sides of the building – with steel being loaded in one side and goods shipped out on the other – once the expansion is complete.

The development plan proposes all required parking, drainage and landscaping, and the property is zoned heavy industry and highway business, according to planning documents.

– The City-County Planning Commission of Warren County meets at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall and is open to the public. Agendas and staff documents are available at http://www.warrenpc.org.