Despite NPU Resistance, Fuqua Kroger Plans Clear More Hurdles

Some residents surrounding Buckhead’s Lindbergh City Center have been fighting against a proposed big box grocery store development in the area for years, but developer Jeff Fuqua is garnering more and more support for the project from the City of Atlanta, BuckheadView says.

Although Neighborhood Planning Unit B has been a staunch opponent of the development and has consistently voted down Fuqua’s plans for the site, both the Atlanta City Council’s Community Development/Human Resources and Zoning committees have signed off on the development, BuckheadView says.

Fuqua’s plans call for the construction of an 82,000 sq. ft. Kroger and 173 age-restricted apartments at 658 and 690 Lindbergh Dr. The project will require a rezoning of the area from Special Public Interest District 15 Subarea 8 (Lindbergh Residential) to Subarea 3 (Piedmont Commercial). The 2011 Comprehensive Development Plan for the site mandates the site be zoned high-density residential.

The Atlanta City Council could vote on the change in the Comprehensive Development Plan as soon as next month, BuckheadView says. If the plan is amended to accommodate Fuqua’s development in January, construction could begin in June and be completed by the summer of 2016, BuckheadView adds.

Back in 2012, Fuqua wanted to build a Walmart on the site to anchor a different development, but met with resistance from neighborhood leaders who felt the plans were too “suburban” for the area. Lindbergh City Center is among the first transit-oriented projects in the city.