UPDATE: See our newest post on this story for location specifics.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle is at it again.  Casually dropping hints about a Whole Foods Market in “Decatur” and subsequently setting everyone’s hair on fire.  

This time the mention occurs in an article about Whole Foods’ new “365” stores.   The full article is behind a paywall, but here’s the section near the end that mentions the Decatur store.  Bolding is mine…

The 365 store was designed to complement Whole Foods larger, traditional stores. The company recently has announced new stores in Atlanta, including a flagship, 70,000-square-foot Whole Foods in Midtown at 14th and West Peachtree streets. It also has new stores planned in Chamblee and Decatur.

The Shopping Center Group is assisting Whole Foods with its local site selection.

“With the 365 stores opening now, they’re going to take the smaller footprint, be very curated product mix, very focused on creating value for customers,” said David Lannon, executive vice president of operations for Whole Foods, said in a Feb. 10 call with analysts. “You won’t see small Whole Foods Market stores open up…365 stores can go into a lot of markets we think Whole Foods can’t go in with these bigger, more exciting boxes.”

It’s unclear from the article whether the Whole Foods would be inside the city limits or part of “Greater Decatur”.   We will update you with further news as we receive/hear it.

Whole Foods Midtown photo courtesy of Whole Foods website

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Harken Health Insurance Company is opening six new locations around Atlanta in January and plans to hire between 75-80 people around the region.

If you’ve passed the old Ruby Tuesday’s location on West Ponce recently and exclaimed “Who took away those ridiculously oversized lamps, I so loved?” or you have been stopped at the light at Clairmont at North Decatur headed south and seen the Harken Health billboard that advertises a November 1st launch on Healthcare.gov, you’re probably aware of this new healthcare option.

What is Harken Health?  So says the Chronicle…

Harken Health offers competitively priced insurance paired with primary care in a membership-based model. Members get free primary care visits at its Health Centers and a personal Care Team available by phone, email, text or video chat 24 hours a day.

In addition to its new Downtown Decatur location, Harken plans to open additional locations in Austell, Brookhaven, Duluth, East Cobb and Roswell.  They also have locations in Chicago.

UPDATE:  From Harken – “The center will also hold an open house/grand opening event at the Decatur location on Thursday, December 3^rd from  3:00pm – 8:00pm.  Members and prospective members can tour the facility,  enjoy light refreshments and try out complimentary fitness classes. On  January 2^nd, 2016 the center will officially open for its members.”

Note that this post has been revised to clarify that the November 1st date on the North Decatur billboard is advertising the health care plan’s availability on Healthcare.gov and not it’s Downtown Decatur opening.

Old renovation photo courtesy of Daren

So it appears that the Atlanta Business Chronicle has been holding an “Atlanta Beer Madness” bracket the last month or so to determine Atlanta’s favorite local brewery.  Lee points out that the finals are upon us and Three Taverns in going up against Kennesaw’s Burnt Hickory.

Wanna help out Decatur’s local brewery?  Click Here and Vote!

TSPLOST may no longer be a household acronym, but apparently the Clifton Corridor light rail line is by no means dead.  From the Atlanta Business Chronicle…

The Federal Transit Administration and MARTA are moving forward with a study of a possible new light rail transit line that would run through the Clifton Corridor, two years after metro voters defeated a tax that would have funded the line.

The proposed 8.8 mile line would extend from the Lindbergh MARTA station through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters and Emory University and Emory Hospital campuses to the Avondale MARTA station.

…Atlanta Business Chroniclereported last January that the CDC is considering an expansion over 10 years at its campus near Emory University that could lead to a 30 percent increase in workers and the construction of a big new laboratory and parking deck. At a public hearing on March 20, area residents expressed concerns that such an influx of new commuters would be too much for the already congested corridor.

Map courtesy of 2013 Clifton Corridor Steering Committee Presentation

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle…

Wild Heaven Craft Beers busted out the sledgehammers to mark the start of construction of its 8,000 square-foot brewery in Avondale Estates.

The new brewery, 7 miles from downtown Atlanta, will be outfitted with a 30-barrel brewing system that was previously utilized by SweetWater Brewing Co. and Terrapin Brewing and a tasting room featuring the Wild Heaven beers and seasonal offerings will be a feature.

You can view a nice little slideshow of the initial construction over on the ABC website.

You may recall our mention of the Atlanta Business Chronicle article from a couple of weeks back that reported on Sprouts Farmer’s Markets coming to Atlanta soon.

Well Carl points out that another recent ABC article (mostly behind a paywall) that notes that Earth Fare out of North Carolina is also scouting out the Atlanta market and looking for locations.  And this time Decatur is mentioned specifically.  Not by the company, but by a local commercial real estate broker, Amy Fingerhut.

Decatur is also ripe for more grocery options, Fingerhut said.

The article goes on to posit that the coming mixed-use development of the Callaway Building site is one potential option.

By this point, the Avondale MARTA Livable Centers Initiative report sitting on a shelf at Decatur City Hall must be pretty dusty.  It celebrated its 10th Birthday last year.

But this is Decatur 2013, where it seems that every single large development that was buried by the recession, is crawling back out of the ground, growling, “Permits, Give me permits.”.  And here’s the latest sighting, courtesy of the Atlanta Business Chronicle – “Avondale Project Would Lift Decatur“.

Again the full article is behind a paywall, but the main takeaway from the article is that MARTA is in serious talks with the City of Decatur, to the point where Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne tells ABC that they hope to have an agreement with MARTA in place by July.

Another interesting thought from Ms. Menne from the piece – residents of the proposed development could easily bypass the pedestrian moat that is College Avenue using the MARTA pedestrian bridge and then stroll down Sycamore to downtown Decatur.