The groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Kroger Marketplace off Jimmie Dyess Parkway on Monday morning brought together both leaders from the company and Augusta officials, including Mayor Garnett Johnson and District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight.
“My constituents here have been asking for Kroger for about a year and a half,” said McKnight. “It’s finally coming. I’m looking forward to it. And now nobody has to go shop out in Columbia County; we’ll bring money here to Richmond County.”
Kroger Atlanta Division President Victor Smith offered thanks to Johnson and McKnight, as well as Economic Development Authority President Cal Wray, former District 10 Commissioner John Clarke, and the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce.
According to Kroger, the store was some two years in the making. The company, via a spokesperson, cited a “2.4% annual population growth since 2010” as its impetus for investing some $34 million into developing in the southwest Augusta area. Further down the road from the site of the upcoming supermarket is Belair K-8 School, whose growing population spurred a project to build a new middle school in West Augusta.
The 124,000-square foot shopping center, called Eisenhower Crossing, is set to be erected along the westward intersection of Jimmie Dyess and Harper Franklin Avenue, and will also include an adjacent fuel service station.
“We look forward to serving our new customers, including the area’s military families,” Smith said, a nod to the new store’s location right outside Fort Gordon’s Gate 1.
The company, however, underscores that though it aims to attract “everyone in Augusta,” there is a particular draw for those who live and work in proximity to Jimmie Dyess and Fort Gordon.
The store would be filling a gap in convenience for residents in southwest Augusta. Since the Kroger store in Richmond Plaza on Wrightsboro Road closed in 2019, area shoppers may have to travel to the Wal-Mart along Wrightsboro for groceries, or the Kroger Marketplace in Grovetown, until Eisenhower Crossing opens.
“We wanted something in this area of the community,” said Wray, regarding the Development Authority’s role in drawing the supermarket chain to Jimmie Dyess Parkway. “There’s not an easy access to a grocery store, so this was a big piece here. That was the reason we helped the project work.”
The Development Authority’s primary contribution to the development is money for traffic improvements, primarily streamlining ingress and egress into the area.
“It’s not upfront money,” said Wray. “They complete it and then we will reimburse them for the reaction.”
The Eisenhower Crossing Kroger Marketplace is scheduled to open in spring of 2024.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
