KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Ukrop's opened at Ivy Market, a retail center on Franklin Road in Roanoke, in June 2007. The grocery will shut its doors for good on Saturday.

The front doors will slide closed for good at Ukrop's Super Market in Roanoke on Saturday, leaving behind a vacant store, empty parking spaces and much uncertainty.

The future of this 58,000-square-foot structure on Franklin Road is unclear, and so is the status of a tax incentives deal that Roanoke officials made with developer Bland Painter and his company, IMD Investment Group.

The Richmond-based Ukrop's chain said last month that it would close its Roanoke store. The total number of Ukrop's employees who will be without jobs is unclear.

Painter said Wednesday that he wants a new retailer to take Ukrop's place at Ivy Market, the retail center that his company built. But he would not disclose potential prospects for the site.

"We're disappointed about Ukrop's decision," Painter said. "IMD's goal is to continue the vision for Ivy Market as a shopping destination."

He described the site as a "gateway location in a strong neighborhood."

Painter and his company can receive city incentive payments of up to $600,000 each year for 15 years if a retailer opens in Ukrop's place. The incentives are based on tax revenue generated by stores at Ivy Market. Walgreens opened beside Ukrop's in August.

Some retailers already have asked the city about the site's availability, and the city is passing all inquiries to Painter, said Brian Townsend, assistant city manager.

The city agreement, crafted in 2004, requires that a new retailer replacing Ukrop's at Ivy Market cannot have an existing Roanoke location. That discourages IMD from landing established grocery chains such as Kroger or Food Lion.

Ukrop's has a 15-year lease with IMD and that lease must be dissolved before a new retailer comes, Townsend said. Painter would not discuss the status of the lease negotiations.

His company already has received two incentive payments from the city. On Oct. 1, the Roanoke Economic Development Authority cut IMD a check for $506,447. The payment covered tax revenues from Ivy Market from July 1, 2008, to June 30, Townsend said.

That amount is less than last year's payment to IMD of $522,542, which was the first since Ukrop's 2007 opening.

Last month, Townsend said it was in Painter's best interest to find a new retailer for the site, because the developer likely is relying on city incentives to repay loans for the $20 million project.

Painter would not comment Wednesday on the personal financial implications of Ukrop's closing and the future of Ivy Market. This property assessed at $15.7 million this year, according to city property records.

Roanoke-based Valley Bank is Painter's lender for the project, according to court documents. Also, IMD has more than $100,000 in liens from its contractor and subcontractors related to the building of the adjacent 14,000-square-foot Walgreens store, according to court documents.

Retailers may find the Ukrop's building attractive, with its underground parking garage and open layout. But landing a new tenant will be a challenge, said Bob Copty of Thalhimer, a commercial real estate company with a Roanoke office.

"I think the economy has some great effect on the timeline of what happens and when it happens," he said.

Ukrop's officials blamed the lack of additional retail at Ivy Market as a reason for slow sales and traffic at the Roanoke store.

And the grocer's failure in Roanoke may cast a spell of bad luck on its left-behind real estate.

"There is no question that other same-type stores, whether it's grocery or shoes, do not like to occupy the same location as a failed store," Millie Moore, a broker for Retail Real Estate in Roanoke, wrote in an e-mail. "Particularly, since Ukrop's was not open very long, this makes re-leasing it as a grocery store even more difficult than it already is."

Still, one possibility could involve splitting the structure into two stores, she added. The building is too small for some large grocery chains, and the chance of a small, speciality grocer landing there is slim because of competition from the nearby Fresh Market, a gourmet grocer at Towers Shopping Center, Moore said.

Since news of Ukrop's closing, company executives have been mum about the Roanoke store, such as stating the total number of employees there. The First Market bank branch inside the store will remain open until Dec. 18.

In September, there were approximately 110 Ukrop's associates, said area public relations executive Thomas Becher.

In early October, the Roanoke Valley Workforce Center spoke with approximately 35 Ukrop's employees about benefits and resources for laid-off workers, said Jerry Barnett, assistant manager of the center.

Kroger officials also visited the Roanoke Ukrop's to talk with associates about available jobs, said Kroger spokesman Carl York. He did not know how many Ukrop's employees would join Kroger, but "offers have been made or will be made for jobs," he said.

Additionally, some former Ukrop's associates now are unloading trucks at Target in Roanoke, said Michele Johnson, a Target manager. Others have landed jobs at Walmart on Franklin Road in Roanoke, said store manager Aaron Robins.