Long-Delayed Moores Mill Development Finally Breaks Ground

March 2nd, 2016

Nearby resident Zach Gober called the abandoned strip mall at Moores Mill Road an ‘’eye sore.’’

STEPHANNIE STOKES / WABE

Wednesday morning, crews will start demolishing an abandoned shopping center between Moores Mill Road and Marietta Boulevard in northwest Atlanta.

It will make way for a new mixed-use development, including a 45,000-square-foot Publix grocery store.

“It’s taken a long time,” said Herbert Ames, southeast vice president for Edens, the developer with the project.

Edens first started working to redevelop the space a decade ago but faced a series of roadblocks.

“It was really a combination of factors that led to it dragging out a little bit — probably namely was the recession,” Ames said.

There was also an issue last year with funding for an extension of Moores Mill Road that the project requires. It’s now being paid for with local and federal dollars.

The neighborhood is excited to see construction finally starting — particular because of the planned Publix. Currently, there aren’t any grocery stores close by, said Zach Gober, who lives nearby and chairs the Neighborhood Planning Unit for the area.

“The neighborhood’s very attractive. It’s convenient to all parts of Atlanta, great school district, but was really lacking in the grocery area,” Gober said.

Atlanta City Council member Felicia Moore, who pushed for the new Edens project, said some have even moved to the neighborhood over the years expecting the Publix and the new development that will be built around it.

Wednesday’s groundbreaking, Moore said, “will complete the picture in terms of promises that people who had moved into the community and others who built their homes here anticipating being able to go down to the grocery store; those promises will be fulfilled.”