After nearly four year years of planning and delays, a new Kroger is one step closer to reality in East Cobb. Plans for the new store, which will anchor MarketPlace Terrell Mill at the northwest corner of Terrell Mill and Powers Ferry Roads, were first made public in late 2017 when developers indicated the grocer would be 113,000 square feet and include a fuel center, too.
The new store, slated to replace the existing roughly 45,000 square foot, circa 1983 Kroger at 1122 Powers Ferry Road, will still feature an 18 pump fuel center, but after already being reduced to 95,000 square feet, will now be only 90,870 square feet, according to planning documents reviewed by ToNeTo Atlanta.
The store's development has been delayed for several reasons, among them a controversial $35 million bond package and a 10 year tax abatement provided to the grocer by the Development Authority of Cobb County. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled June 3, 2019 in a unanimous 7-0 vote that retired Cobb Superior Court judge Adele Grubbs erred in denying issuance of $35 million in revenue bonds by the Development Authority of Cobb County.
The abatement ensures Kroger will pay no taxes on the property its first year, then 10 percent the next year, 20 percent the third and so on until it is fully taxable by its 11th year.
The Kroger construction job is currently out for bid from prospective contractors with a due date of September 13. If all goes well and construction starts before the end of the year, sources close to the grocer and those familiar with grocery construction tell ToNeTo Atlanta that the store should open in mid to late 2023.
The new store is expected to be similar to the Kroger at The Crossings Shopping Center at 3240 South Cobb Drive in Smyrna. There, a 93,000 square foot Kroger replaced another 1983 era Kroger store when it opened in January 2012. (The former Kroger is now a Planet Fitness and Habitat for Humanity ReStore.)
When the new Kroger opens in East Cobb it will join existing outparcel tenants in the development including Wendy's, Panera, Regions and Chick-fil-A, which just opened August 11. Other current tenants in the project include an Extra Space Storage and the 298 unit Marketplace Vista apartment community that sold in May for $87 million. An additional five suite outparcel building, which marketing materials indicate has leases signed with Los Abuelos Mexican Grille and Lush Nails, will also open as part of the project.
Planning documents indicate that Kroger will occupy about nine acres of the 23 acre development.
When it opens, the Kroger in East Cobb will likely be the first new store the Cincinnati-based grocer has opened in metro Atlanta since the August 2020 debut of the store on Chamblee-Tucker Road in Embry Village. There, an existing 57,000 square foot store from 2001 was replaced with a roughly 113,000 square foot store. ToNeTo Atlanta first reported on the store in early 2016, but it was reportedly in the works since 2015.
In our research for this post, we discovered that Kroger also plans to add a new fuel center to their existing store at Parkaire Landing near the intersection of Lower Roswell and Johnson Ferry Roads, also in East Cobb. The center, which Ponce City Market owner Jamestown purchased in 2018, would see the addition of a 7 dispenser (14 pump) fuel center in front of the Kroger and behind the existing dentist's office. Plans for the fuel center were filed with Cobb County this past April but it's unclear what the status of the project is today.
Kroger in 2020 added fuel centers like the one planned for Parkaire Landing to two other existing Kroger stores in East Cobb: Pavilions at East Lake on Roswell Road and Sandy Plains Centre on Shallowford Road.
ToNeTo Atlanta reached out to Jamestown where a representative eventually said "we have no comment at this time."
A representative for Kroger, when asked about the two East Cobb projects as well as the status of the planned Kroger at West Midtown Center near IKEA, simply confirmed the existence of the permits we referenced but offered no further updates.
Are you excited to hear that fuel is coming to more Kroger locations in East Cobb? What would you like to see happen to the current Kroger at Delk and Powers Ferry Roads? Have your grocery shopping habits changed within the past six months?
Please share your thoughts below.