S. Broad Publix will look ‘industrial’
A proposed Publix supermarket on South Broad Street will have a more industrial look than a typical grocery store, new drawings show.
Mike Price of MAP Engineers, representing developer Alliance Realty Services, said a committee of local representatives and the development team held several meetings related to the proposed store. He said the building’s look follows the “roots of our industrial past.”
Also, two other buildings with retail shops are to go close to the intersection of South Broad and West 35th Street. Price said those were designed with quite a bit of glass and sitting close to the street “to create an inviting atmosphere” with a plaza area.
In July, the 32,000-squarefoot store cleared a key hurdle as members of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission approved a zoning variance for the project.
But some neighbors were critical of the proposal and wanted the storefront to sit at the edge of the property along South Broad rather than in the middle of the block with with the parking lot in front.
Developers of the proposed store will go before the Chattanooga Board of Zoning Appeals on Nov. 7 to try to gain three variances to move the project ahead.
The three variances for the development, proposed for the site of the former Mount Vernon restaurant at South Broad and St. Elmo Avenue, would allow:
Front setback from the primary street (Broad Street) to be increased from some 15 feet to about 64 feet for the main building.
Parking between the building and primary street.
The percentage of doors and windows on the primary street facade of the main building to be reduced from the required 30 percent to a minimum of about 7.8 percent.
Jim Johnson, who heads Chattanoogans for Responsible Development, said none of the variances requested from the Board of Zoning Appeals falls into the category of a hardship.
“They fall into the category of an inconvenience or a way to save the developer money,” he said.
Johnson said the proposed layout of the Publix doesn’t pay attention to a dramatic loss of tax revenue.
A multistory building placed closer to the road along with retail shops and office space in place of a parking lot would create a larger payoff for the city, he said.
The current proposal “really dramatically curtails benefits of a better planned development,” Johnson said.
He said no one is against Publix opening there, but it comes down to how the building is placed on the property.
Price said he believes the committee was “agreeable with the proposed exterior layout of the proposed buildings.”
“They blend and complement each other,” he said.
Price said that if the proposal receives approval from the Zoning Appeals Board, the project will need a land disturbance permit. Construction likely could begin in the spring of 2019, he said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.