Finally! Murder Kroger getting Major Renovations! (Atlanta: Home Depot, construction, contractor)

[BackInATL2011]

Yet another great thing on the eastside beltline trail neighbothoods!

From Atlanta Business Chronicles:

Cincinnati-based The*Kroger Co.*plans to invest $1.5 million into its grocery store at 725 Ponce de Leon Ave., near the massive reurbanization project Ponce City Market.Renovations will include upgrading the store’s decor and expanding its pharmacy, according to*Glynn Jenkins, spokesman for Kroger’s Atlanta Division. “We continue to invest in communities so that shoppers have access to healthy, affordable food options, and to provide jobs and training for residents,” he said in a statement.A permit for $700,000 worth of work was filed in Atlanta on July 8. Jenkins said he’s not sure when construction will start. “I won’t have a tentative date until the project has been awarded to a contractor following bids,” he said.The deadline for bids is Aug. 6.

[Nast]

About time, although it's too bad that they only do updates to this location when they perceive incoming threats. The last time they made any attempts at improvements was back when Harris Teeter announced they were opening in the location that is now Whole Foods on Ponce.

[Gulch]

Too bad they aren't doing anything about the huge parking lot fronting Ponce.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Too bad they aren't doing anything about the huge parking lot fronting Ponce.

What would you like them to do about it? That parking lot serves many nearby small business as well as the Kroger.

What they need (badly) is a better connection to the BeltLine. Right now there is not really any "front door" access from the Eastside Trail to a grocer. The steep little dirt path at Murder Kroger is pretty much the best current option. Whole Foods is inaccessible from the trail, and the grade changes there would make that a HUGE undertaking. Trader Joe's miiiight be able to make a connection via that little side entrance. The Kroger is sort of uniquely positioned in that they can easily make a trail connection without massive grade changes, that won't require cyclists or pedestrians to navigate a parking lot.

Once PCM is done, there will be a lot more retail directly from the trail. The grades make it near-imopssible but I'd love to see a way to access the HD/Whole Foods area directly from the trail. To make it a really "transformational" system, people need to have access to the things and places they shop on a daily and weekly basis.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by red92s

What would you like them to do about it? That parking lot serves many nearby small business as well as the Kroger.

What they need (badly) is a better connection to the BeltLine. Right now there is not really any "front door" access from the Eastside Trail to a grocer. The steep little dirt path at Murder Kroger is pretty much the best current option. Whole Foods is inaccessible from the trail, and the grade changes there would make that a HUGE undertaking. Trader Joe's miiiight be able to make a connection via that little side entrance. The Kroger is sort of uniquely positioned in that they can easily make a trail connection without massive grade changes, that won't require cyclists or pedestrians to navigate a parking lot.

Once PCM is done, there will be a lot more retail directly from the trail. The grades make it near-imopssible but I'd love to see a way to access the HD/Whole Foods area directly from the trail. To make it a really "transformational" system, people need to have access to the things and places they shop on a daily and weekly basis.

I read last week that Kroger is going to create a sidewalk connection to the Beltline. Can't remember where I read that. Seems obvious and easy enough to do. I agree about the Whole Foods shopping center connection. You have to go way out of your way to get there from the Beltline, and it runs right behind it.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by JPD

I read last week that Kroger is going to create a sidewalk connection to the Beltline. Can't remember where I read that. Seems obvious and easy enough to do. I agree about the Whole Foods shopping center connection. You have to go way out of your way to get there from the Beltline, and it runs right behind it.

I've pondered this more than I care to admit. Consider that when you are standing behind Whole Foods on the trail, you are looking down on the roof . . . so you've gotta drop like 50 feet (?) vertically to be at parking lot level. Pretty much no way to do that without switchbacks or stairs, neither of which are really attractive options.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by red92s

I've pondered this more than I care to admit. Consider that when you are standing behind Whole Foods on the trail, you are looking down on the roof . . . so you've gotta drop like 50 feet (?) vertically to be at parking lot level. Pretty much no way to do that without switchbacks or stairs, neither of which are really attractive options.

Either that, or begin a downslope immediately after the bridge, and ending near the Home Depot.

Or at the very least, a simple stairway to the sidewalk on Ponce.

[Nast]

Originally Posted by red92s

I've pondered this more than I care to admit. Consider that when you are standing behind Whole Foods on the trail, you are looking down on the roof . . . so you've gotta drop like 50 feet (?) vertically to be at parking lot level. Pretty much no way to do that without switchbacks or stairs, neither of which are really attractive options.

I thought I read that creating an access point to Ponce was going to be one of the undertakings in the upcoming year?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by JPD

Either that, or begin a downslope immediately after the bridge, and ending near the Home Depot.

Or at the very least, a simple stairway to the sidewalk on Ponce.

The area to the west of the trail is reserved for future transit use, so a sloped ramp to HD is out of the question. There will be a direct connection from the BeltLine to PCM. People wishing to go to Midtown Place, could access PCM and walk across Ponce? North Ave is getting stairs from BeltLine to the street.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The area to the west of the trail is reserved for future transit use, so a sloped ramp to HD is out of the question. There will be a direct connection from the BeltLine to PCM. People wishing to go to Midtown Place, could access PCM and walk across Ponce? North Ave is getting stairs from BeltLine to the street.

In that case, a stairway from the trail to the sidewalk in front of Paris on Ponce.