Disco Kroger Renovation Plans Filed, Head Toward Neighborhood Review

Newly filed renovation plans for the Disco Kroger shopping center in Buckhead will go before the SPI-9 Development Review Committee on Thursday, according to the local zoning advisory body’s meeting agenda this week.

First reported by Reporter Newspapers, the plans by owner Regency Centers call for demolishing the site’s existing Kroger grocery store to make way for a new, roughly 55,000-square-foot grocery store building. A special administrative permit application filed with the city of Atlanta last week also shows the project would entail facade improvements to the 10.886-acre site’s other three buildings, which total an additional roughly 97,000 square feet.

“The applicant intends to demolish and reconstruct the existing grocery store and also generally refurbish and renovate the existing shopping center to modernize the improvements and improve aesthetic appeal,” a project summary in the SAP filing reads.

The permit application lists replacement costs for the existing grocery box as totaling $9 million.

The momentum for changes at the property follows several years of plans. Before it was acquired by Regency Centers in 2017, Equity One Inc. was pursuing a mixed-use “urban oasis” development at the site.

Those plans stalled after Regency Centers took ownership, but a rezoning effort starting earlier this year helped pave the way for current plans. The Atlanta City Council officially voted to rezone the shopping center property in May, city records show.

It hasn’t been revealed whether Kroger would occupy the new grocery space. Neither Regency Centers Senior Project Manager Scott Siebert nor project applicant Jessica Hill of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP immediately responded to requests for comment.

Renderings indicate a possible new mix of incoming tenants, including a beer garden titled Establishment, as well as eyewear retailer Warby Parker.

Existing tenants like Jamison Shaw Hairdressers and Smoothie King would be in store for exterior improvements, according to renderings.

Designs for the project are being led by ASD | SKY and Hiscutt & Associates, plans show.

Other renovation plans include the new grocery box being moved west to better align the abutting drive aisle with property to the south, according to the SAP application.

The new layout would also entail a reduction in automobile parking from 522 to 498 spaces.