Construction has started on the DeKalb Farmer’s Market expansion just east of Decatur on Ponce de Leon Ave, which has gotten some folks talking this morning in FFAF.
Ever since we first learned that DeKalb Farmer’s Market was planning to quadruple it’s footprint and read Thomas Wheatley’s in-depth article on the market’s plan, we’ve wondered what something of such enormous size will look like.
Well here you go. George points to this early plan on the Avondale Estates website from way back in 2012 that shows the existing building (greyed out) and all of the new buildings, parking deck, etc that will surround the existing parking lot. It’s an old plan, but it at least provides an idea of the scale of what’s being done.
This would really get folks talking if they added a residential component and COD considered annexation. 🙂
With Kroger’s and Patel Plaza’s ongoing expansions, it’ll be Decatur’s hot new corridor: Grocery Row.
Thanks for the link, George, it’s exciting!
I like to ride my bike to YDFM, and getting out there on a bike requires a good measure of care given the traffic patterns. Here’s hoping they expand their bike rack and do a little something to make it easier to get in/out of the lot on a bike.
I agree. Dedicated bike lanes running directly past the entrance would make a huge difference since the Path turns off on DeKalb Industrial.
Also hope the Marta is paying attention; increasing frequency on the 36 and 75 buses from Avondale Station after completion would likely benefit all involved parties.
Yes! Dedicated bike lanes!
All they would need to do is continue the existing Stone Mountain trail on E Ponce for another 1/4 mile or so. The fact that they did not do that last time might suggest there is some reason that doing so would be very difficult.
Anyway, I’m all for it if feasible. But I wonder if it would cause a lot more Decaturites to bike to the market, because your route home includes the climb back up E Ponce, with a bunch of groceries in your panniers or in a backpack. Not to mention that many people go to YDFM for major food runs, not to get a specific 4 or 5 items that can easily be fit into panniers.
The first time I biked that hill home with a backpack, I thought I would never make it. If the traffic Armageddon that some expect from the expansion occurs, though, more people might be willing to consider other options besides coming earlier or later. We’ll see…
Talking hypothetically, I’ve wondered why they didn’t run the Path further along Ponce. Ponce does get a little narrower after Dekalb Industrial, but all they would really need to do is have the Path cross Ponce at Dekalb Industrial Way to the other side (by Enterprise) and continue an extension down a widened version of the existing sidewalk to the entrance. With all of the land they’re going to develop, the future bike entrance could be a bit closer (at the spot across from Pet’s Playhouse, 0.2 miles past the main Path). It would be cheap and easy. Most of the businesses along there aren’t really oriented to products or services that someone would bike to, but I would consider paying for it, if I owned YDFM. Maybe something around Laredo to connect the revamped downtown Avondale, too, where feasible.
Looking at the expansion diagram, they could consider running bike lanes down Arcadia for an even more direct future route (it’s 3 lanes both sides almost the entire way to the new entrance), but that’s another conversation and I hear a tasty beverage calling me.
I’d love a Ukrainian section, the culture is friendly and food delicious!
“I’d love a Ukrainian section.”
****************************************
“I’d love a southwest Russian section.”
Fixed your post.
Are you saying Ukraine is weak?
I’m not saying anything. I’d say Putin is the one sending that message.
Sorry — it was an old Seinfeld reference, not a serious question. Too obscure. My bad.
It’s NOT go time.
Oops! Or should I say, Moops!
Buck up campers! I weekly bike to the market for a week’s worth of food (for 2) and every 4 weeks, that also includes a case of wine. Which weighs 40 pounds, in case you were wondering. That long hill is an excellent cardio test, I will admit.
That is impresve. Your back wheel must have 50 spokes to survive that.
“Also hope the Marta is paying attention; increasing frequency on the 36 and 75 buses from Avondale Station after completion would likely benefit all involved parties.”
Given its size, I’d think YDFM would consider running a shuttle from there.
OMG, I would so use that every week without fail. Would probably take a little longer than the car excursion but would be less aggravating by a magnitude of 10, at least. Fits right in with the scheme I’m trying to devise to start letting my car gather even more dust.
or improve bicycle access and then anchor the bike share between YDFM, Avondale MARTA and downtown
@Bobby and Brianc: I second both of those excellent ideas.
Holy. Moly. Before I saw this, I couldn’t really conceive just how large the expansion would be…*agog* I’m looking forward to all of the new fresh food possibilities to come!
This project is over the top. The surface parking lot will consume 16 acres! Add the building rooftops, remove the trees and there is a real stormwater and heat island problem. There is zero imagination in the design and no discernible sustainable environmental practices going on here. Meanwhile they’ll be bringing us fruit from Chile and other “local” farms. I’ve been shopping there for many years, but this expansion will push me to my limits.
Agreed…
Green roofs a possibility?
They are burning the trees that are being cut down. I live in Scottdale mill village just adjacent to the market. The smoke was so bad this weekend that I could not go outside or open my windows. Love the market but hate what they are doing without any input from the local community
Isn’t that illegal? I remember my father burning leaves and felled limbs in our outdoor pit but that became illegal when I was a child. Burning is awful for air quality.
You expect them to pay attention to the community? Another failure by GGD.
Build We Build!
😀
Robert will probably just import a whole country to staff the place.
Ukranian crisis resolved! Brilliant!
It is hard to find shade in the existing lot. If the expansion uses a similar giant asphalt pad, I hope the build-out includes mounts and a bit of conduit for solar PV shading. With hundreds of megawatts of solar coming in the next few years, why not install some at YDFM.
Newer zoning regulations will require them to plant significantly more trees, but with the micro-climate that will exist from this much asphalt, it will be difficult for trees to thrive.
Was thinking the same thing – a solar array in the parking lot that doubles as shade would be a great fit. See this: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/29/william-paterson-boasts-big-new-solar-panel-installation/#
I know the upfront costs are daunting, but there are some companies that install it for you, and charge you rent. You get the power you agree on, and the excess can be sold to the grid (at least in other states, GA may not allow this yet.)
+a megawatt to Bobby. As cold as that place is kept, their power bill has got to be ginormous.
and that is a great reason to also engineer a portion of rooftop on both the addition and the new building with proper alignment and strength for 100kw each
I’m hoping for something like this (the current largest supermarket in the United States). Whacky singing circus animals would be a wonderful touch: http://www.junglejims.com/
YDFM drives me nuts. They need to expand in a big way. It can’t happen soon enough for me regardless of design, etc. Now if Kroger and YDFM would both expand towards each other, maybe they could morph together and we could do one-stop shopping with a Segway or golf cart!
Fondest hope: they’ll devise a way to teach and encourage people to use a park-and-walk strategy inside. It’s so much more difficult than it needs to be, when people insist on dragging their cart up alongside whatever they’re selecting, thereby totally blocking other people who might want to pick out some broccoli, too. Or browse the deli meats. Or reach the cheese. Unless you have a baby in your buggy, you really don’t need to keep it within a foot of you every second.
Today’s highlight: the woman who insisted on walking underneath the full pallet of wine suspended on a forklift, to save herself about 10 steps, despite the best efforts of half a dozen YDFM employees urging her to go around it.
Parking the cart is the only way to go. The tourists, wide eyed and shocked by all the products, get on my nerves. May I also recommend not taking a family of ten on the weekend and block whole aisles.
I wonder if their prices will rise as a result of this expansion. I’d still probably go for exotic items, chicken and pork, but if Publix becomes same or less expensive people might opt for the convenience and lack of chaos and mayhem.
YDFM is my first choice for produce partly for the prices but also because in general, it stays fresh longer than what I buy at Publix or Kroger. I’m only feeding myself most of the time and hate it when stuff spoils in less than a week.
Hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space. Hundreds of new parking spaces. Two lanes of Ponce. What could possibly go wrong?
Think this might cause the rocket scientists in DeKalb Country traffic engineering to finally consider a left turn light at Ponce & Clarendon?
I really hate that place.
Is completion still predicted to be 10 years away?
By the way, parking your cart doesn’t always work. I’ve had mine disappear before.
Over 3500 parking spaces!
I suggest people drive by and see what is happening. For those of us who live by the market and support it, the loss of the forest is very disappointing. There was an abundance of wildlife living there (deer, hawks, etc), now its all gone.
Too bad Good Growth DeKalb couldn’t be bothered to protest the strip-clearing of those trees (or any of the other issues that exist here as the ones they’re purportedly upset with WalMart about).
It’s because they probably all shop at YDFM. Extremely hypocritical IMHO, especially when you consider that it’s been reported that YDFM attitudes and policies toward employees are at least as bad, if not worse, than WM.
That’s what I hear. And for all the Trader Joe’s haters out there, read this & weep: http://www.today.com/money/consumer-reports-rates-55-supermarket-chains-2D79445826
Interesting, yes?
If we could get a Wegman’s down here, then we’d be in business.
Interesting, yes, but a bit misleading I’d argue. Why? Because two of the top five, Trader Joe’s and Costco, are hardly full-service supermarkets. There are lots of grocery items that can’t be found at either, especially Costco. Also, I think it’s worth considering who, in the case of Costco, would be taking this survey: members. I’d wager most people are going to give higher marks to a place they pay to shop at, out of a sense of self-justification if nothing else (and note that members-only Sam’s Club scored higher than Wal-Mart supercenters, even though the latter has a far wider selection of groceries but is similar in most other respects).
So, my take is that Publix topped the list among full-service grocers that have locations here. Which sounds about right to me, though I still think Kroger has better deals. Just my two cents.
It is odd that they’ve been quiet on the issue. Love or hate Walmart, the grayfield intersection of 100,000 car trips a day is a reasonable enough location for big box, auto-dependent retail. A forest would presumably be less so.