Plans for Jonquil Village Progressing Slowly

Smyrna city officials reported that while plans for redeveloping Jonquil Village are progressing slower than they’d like, there has been some interest in the property formerly home to Hickory Lake apartments.

Ward 3 Council Representative Teri Anulewicz said that she, Mayor Max Bacon and members of the city’s staff met with a representative from Branch Properties, Jonquil Plaza’s developer, who said that plans have slowed because of turnover at Publix.

“There’s a new real estate manager for this zone,” she said. “He is responsible for all the Publix in basically Georgia north of Macon, South Carolina and eastern Tennessee. So they’re actually working with him on another Publix they’re developing in Nashville and it’s taking a longer time on Publix’s end because they’ve had the staff turnover and they’re getting up to speed internally.”

In February for Jonquil Village and said it planned to resubmit a retail-only site plan in the coming weeks. was for a mixed-use development that included space for 250 apartments and a 45,600-square-foot grocery store. Representatives for Branch said that Publix was interested in leasing the grocery store space. Anulewicz said that’s still the case and Branch is working on a site plan with Publix in mind.  

Branch Property’s attorney could not be reached for further comment. Branch Properties owns two other developments in Smyrna, West Village and Ashbrook Crossing.

On another real estate front, Bacon said at a that there’s been some interest in the property formerly home to Hickory Lake apartments.

“The city owned Hickory Lake apartments,” he said. “There were 746 units there that had seen their better days. We own this property. We’ve had five prospective offers that we’re looking at probably in the next couple of months.”

The city is in the process of demolishing the apartments and marketing the property, which is now being called Smyrna Grove.

At the meeting Bacon was also asked about the future of the . This building was vacated when at The Crossings just across the street from the old site. Bacon said that Kroger’s lease on the property runs through October 2012.