Hutton plans to place three national retailers inside the former Kroger, while a smaller grocery store would open at the opposite end of Belvedere Plaza.
Ask anybody who shops at Memorial and Columbia what is going into the old Kroger, and the answer often comes back the same way: a new grocery store and some retail.
It is reasonable to believe. It is also not what is planned.
The grocery store is not going where Kroger was.
Hutton, the Chattanooga company that has owned Belvedere Plaza since May 2022, plans to divide the roughly 80,000-square-foot former Kroger among three national retailers: two large soft-goods anchors and one smaller junior anchor.
Brandy Chadwick, Hutton’s senior vice president of operations, told ATL Vibes & Views during our site visit that those three stores would take the entire box.
The grocery store would go at the opposite end of the center.
Why the former Kroger cannot hold both
The Kroger parcel is landlocked, Chadwick said, leaving it without enough room for the three national retailers and a grocery store.
Hutton instead plans to place the grocer at the Columbia Drive end of the plaza, where Wingstop operates today.
That portion of the redevelopment is planned as a later phase in 2027. Hutton is pursuing an unnamed national grocer that needs 20,000 to 30,000 square feet. It would be smaller than the Kroger that closed and would not include a fuel center.
That leaves the former Kroger fuel-center pad available for another use. Hutton said it has been discussing the site with a quick-service restaurant.
For shoppers, the sequence matters. The first stores expected to open will sell clothing and other soft goods, not groceries.
Hutton’s goal is to have customers entering the three former Kroger spaces by summer or fall 2027, with interior buildout becoming visible in the spring. The grocery store would follow.
As of our Sept. 11 visit, none of the four new retailers had signed announced leases. Chadwick said negotiations with the three retail anchors were in their final stages, but they would keep the names confidential until the tenants completed permitting. She hoped the grocer could be announced by early 2027.
Current tenants are expected to remain, including Planet Fitness, Hibbett, Dollar Tree and Value Village. Aldi remains open across Columbia Drive, and the Walmart Supercenter is about half a mile east on Memorial.
The $600,000 grocery condition
The complete Belvedere Plaza overhaul is valued at $24.3 million.
In June 2026, the Decide DeKalb Development Authority unanimously approved up to $3 million from the Avondale/Columbia Drive Tax Allocation District’s Urban Renewal Fund.
Tiffany Wills, Decide DeKalb’s chief real estate investments officer, described the award as approximately 12.5 percent of the project’s total cost. The funding is intended to help produce a comprehensive renovation instead of a series of smaller repairs.
The board also tied part of the award to the grocery store.
Hutton must use commercially reasonable efforts to secure a full-service grocer. If those efforts are unsuccessful, the public award can be reduced by $600,000.
That distinction matters. The grocery store has a financial incentive attached to it, but it is not yet a signed or announced tenant.
The broader investment should be visible throughout the plaza. Plans include a new roof across the shopping center, resurfaced parking lots, upgraded signs, facade work and renovated storefronts.
Wills outlined those improvements during an Aug. 6 virtual community meeting hosted by DeKalb County Commissioner Nicole Massiah. More than 100 people participated.
The formal redevelopment schedule called for construction to begin in October. During our Sept. 11 visit, however, the former Kroger was already fenced and demolition work was underway.
What residents asked for
Residents at the August meeting did not ask for another discount store. They named grocers including Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, while others questioned whether another grocery store was necessary with Aldi directly across the street.
One resident asked why the community always receives “the leftovers.”
Nobody at the meeting could identify the incoming tenants because the negotiations remain subject to nondisclosure agreements.
Maurice Raeford of Invest in South DeKalb told ATL Vibes & Views that the lack of information limits the community’s ability to participate.
“You should not be in a community and not know what is coming, because then you cannot help design it,” he said.
Hutton’s side of the record is also important. The company purchased a distressed, 1950s shopping center from an out-of-state owner while Kroger was still operating. It is now putting $24.3 million into the property after Kroger’s September 2025 closure.
Hutton officials also said five or six existing tenants are locally owned, including a Smoothie King opened by a local couple in November 2025.
In our broader feature on South DeKalb’s next chapter, Chadwick also encouraged local entrepreneurs interested in the redeveloped center to contact Hutton about leasing opportunities.
Meeting with Brandy was a refreshing experience. My assesment of Hutton is that they do care and are trying to be intentional on how they fill this vacancy. Three national retailers filling a dark 80,000-square-foot anchor is not a bad outcome. A large vacancy contributes to the blight and safety complaints residents have raised, and Hutton is putting real money into a roof, parking lot and storefronts that need attention. But the grocery store is the only portion of the plan with a specific financial condition attached, and it remains unsigned. The next meaningful update is not another rendering. It is tenant names. Watch whether signs naming the three retailers appear on the construction fence and plaza pylons, whether a grocer is announced before the later phase begins and whether the full $3 million public award remains intact.
