Four addresses on Keene Centre Drive tell most of this year's story. Panera is at 621, ALDI at 641, Chipotle at 661, and Cattleman's Roadhouse at 690. All four sit in the Keene Landing development off the Nicholasville Bypass, near CHI Saint Joseph Health. All four are open today. Three of them have reported 2026 opening dates, and in May the Herald-Leader described Chipotle as already opening.
Most of the headlines are about the other end of town. A new Kroger Marketplace, a Publix, and an approved Cooper's Hawk are all going up along US 27 near the Fayette County line. Local officials have put that development at roughly $250 million. For your weekly shopping, though, the order runs the other way. The east side has already changed. The north end is mostly site work and approvals for now, and the Kroger you shop at today will stay your Kroger for about another year.
The four doors on Keene Centre Drive
Panera came first. Its grand opening at 621 Keene Centre Drive was January 13, 2026, and the company's site lists daily café hours and online ordering. Chipotle at 661 is also listed by the company with daily hours and online ordering.
ALDI is the one most likely to change a weekly routine. The Lexington Herald-Leader announced a June 25 opening at 641 Keene Centre Drive, with an 8:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting and posted hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. FOX 56 covered the opening that morning. In May, the Herald-Leader described it as a store of more than 20,000 square feet. For anyone who lives on the east or south side of town, a discount grocery stop is now a Bypass errand, not a trip up US 27.
Cattleman's Roadhouse opened July 20 at 690 Keene Centre Drive. Its reported hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. That makes Keene Landing a full loop. You can get groceries, a quick lunch, coffee and a sit-down dinner on one short road.
More is coming. The same developer, Patrick Madden, has more retail planned for Keene Landing. A second Nicholasville Wawa, at 1281 Keene Road, was expected to open in 2027, according to a company spokeswoman in May. We haven't seen a newer timeline, so treat 2027 as a May estimate.
The Kroger at Brannon Crossing stays open until its replacement does
The north-end story starts with a store that has been part of the routine for twenty years. Kroger opened at Brannon Crossing in 2006 and is moving across US 27 into a larger Marketplace store at a new center called Rose Garland Place, 3255 Lexington Road. Plans call for fuel pumps and a spirits store. Kroger broke ground in June on the $36 million building.
The date that matters for your grocery list came from Russ Meyer, director of the Economic Development and Transportation Task Force for Nicholasville and Jessamine County. On July 31, he told FOX 56 the new Kroger Marketplace was projected to open "around this time in 2027." That points to about summer 2027. Until then, the Brannon Crossing store keeps operating. FOX 56 reported that the existing store will close once the new one opens, "making room for another business to occupy that location." No replacement tenant has been named.
That leaves a stretch of about a year when the new building is going up in plain view while the old store handles the actual shopping. The biggest change on the north end will take place over a single weekend sometime in 2027, when the store moves across the road. You won't need to change anything before then.
Telling a date from an approval on US 27
Not every project along this corridor is at the same stage. Approved, under construction and open are three different things, and a sign out front looks the same for all of them. Here is where each project stood in the most recent reporting:
- Kroger Marketplace, Rose Garland Place, 3255 Lexington Road. Under construction since June, with an opening projected around summer 2027.
- The rest of Rose Garland Place. Eight more lots for retail and restaurants plus 380 units of three-story apartments and townhomes. The north entrance will sit across from Bethel Drive.
- Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant, Rose Garland Place. Approved by city planners, according to the Herald-Leader on September 28. Plans filed with Nicholasville planning and zoning show about 12,000 square feet, a patio and more than 300 seats. The report gave no opening date. The Herald-Leader says Cooper's Hawk is new to Kentucky and centers on a Napa-style tasting room with guided wine tastings.
- Publix at Stonedale, 2515 Nicholasville Road. A Fuqua Development project whose planning and zoning approval dates to 2022. Herald-Leader reports from May give different figures for the store's size. In May, the Herald-Leader reported that construction "has not yet begun" and gave no opening timeframe. We haven't found a newer update.
- Colts Run, 3213 Lexington Road. Planned south of Rose Garland Place by NAI Isaac, with a hotel, retail and restaurants along the road and an 11-building apartment complex behind them.
Only one of those projects has both a building going up and a projected opening. In May, Madden told the Herald-Leader that "the corridor's really matured," and gave the city credit for its planning. The plans are mature. Most of the actual openings are still a year or more away.
The road work that comes with it
The north end will also be a road project for a while. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's $28 million Brannon Road job, on KY 1980 between US 68 and US 27, covers about 3.21 miles. It widens the road to three lanes with a center two-way left-turn lane, adds a roundabout at Clays Mill Road and builds a new Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge.
In its May 18 advisory, the Cabinet said work was expected to begin soon. It planned periodic flagging and didn't expect major lane impacts at first. Completion is listed for November 2028. Brannon Road is the connector many people use to reach Brannon Crossing from the US 68 side, so this is the project to watch if that's how you get to the Kroger. The completion date also means the Brannon Road work runs more than a year past the new Kroger's projected opening.
The calendar, as reported
Put in order, the dates show how much has already happened on the east side and how much of the north end is still ahead:
- January 13, 2026. Panera's grand opening at 621 Keene Centre Drive.
- June 2026. Kroger breaks ground at Rose Garland Place.
- June 25, 2026. ALDI's ribbon-cutting at 641 Keene Centre Drive.
- July 20, 2026. Cattleman's Roadhouse opens at 690 Keene Centre Drive.
- September 2026. The Herald-Leader reports Cooper's Hawk has planning approval, with no opening date.
- Around summer 2027. Projected opening of the Kroger Marketplace, after which the Brannon Crossing store closes.
- 2027. Wawa at 1281 Keene Road, as estimated in May.
- November 2028. Expected completion of the Brannon Road widening.
Every opening on this list that has already happened is on Keene Centre Drive. Everything from summer 2027 on is on the US 27 side or the roads that feed it.
When the Kroger does move, the numbers are large. Meyer told FOX 56 the overall US 27 development is expected to create about 1,000 jobs. For this fall and winter, though, the new places you can actually shop and eat are on the Bypass.
New stores and roads change daily life in Nicholasville faster than most market reports can capture. If you're wondering how the Kroger move, the Rose Garland Place build-out or the Brannon Road work could affect your own street or a home you're considering, I'm happy to walk through it with you. Michelle Conner keeps track of these changes so your plans can account for them. Let's Connect.
