Plano approves renovations for Liquor King site in Signature Plaza

Plano’s latest approval for Signature Plaza adds another layer to the west Plano corridor’s reset: a 0.9-acre Liquor King site is getting reworked with new parking, drive-thru lane changes, 1,258 additional square feet, a covered patio and a dumpster enclosure.

The Plano Planning and Zoning Commission approved the renovation at its June 1 meeting, keeping the Liquor King property in step with a broader redevelopment effort around the former Kroger site on Coit Road. The changes are modest in scale, but they point to the kinds of tenants and uses city officials and property owners are trying to keep in the corridor: quick-stop retail, restaurant-style site design and more active, customer-friendly space.

The smaller Liquor King project sits inside Signature Plaza, where the larger 9.7-acre site already moved through the city’s planning process in April. On April 20, commissioners unanimously recommended a preliminary site plan for Signature Plaza, Block A, Lots 1R, 7R and 8, calling for reuse of the former Kroger building at 9700 Coit Road as a fitness center and two new retail buildings. The plan covers property on the east side of Coit Road, 625 feet north of Ridgeview Drive, in one of west Plano’s busiest retail corridors.

That broader plan is tied to a change residents have already seen on the ground. The Kroger at 9700 Coit Road closed Jan. 23, 2025, after the Kroger Marketplace opened across the street at 9617 Coit Road. Kroger Texas LP also asked for a reduction in required landscape space to make room for two right-turn lanes on Coit Road, a sign that access and traffic flow are being redesigned along with the buildings themselves.

Plano Associate Planner Ana Sutter said the site was originally developed in 2004, when a 30-foot-wide landscape edge was provided along Coit Road and right-turn lanes were not required under then-current standards. That detail helps explain why this corridor is being updated in stages rather than through one sweeping rebuild: older shopping-center layouts are being adjusted to fit current traffic, access and redevelopment expectations.

The June approval suggests Signature Plaza is moving toward a more mixed-use retail strip than a single-tenant shopping center. With Liquor King remaining in place, the former Kroger building targeted for fitness use, and new retail planned nearby, the property owners appear to be building toward steady foot traffic instead of one large anchor. For west Plano, the question is not whether the area will be rebuilt from scratch, but whether these piecemeal upgrades will add up to a more active, durable shopping corridor near Coit Road and State Highway 121.

Plano’s planning process gives the public a window into those shifts. City meeting materials say agendas are posted the Friday before each meeting, and speakers must register online by 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting. The Planning and Zoning Commission handles site plans and plats for new development and redevelopment projects and makes recommendations to the City Council, making it one of the main checkpoints for how the city’s older retail properties are being repurposed.