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Ground-floor Publix gets the nod
A store between Azeele and Platt won't be built atop a parking garage.
By RICK GERSHMAN
Published October 6, 2006
The proposed Publix in the SoHo area has been brought back down to earth. While neighborhood activists largely supported the idea of an urban grocery store off Armenia Avenue near the SoHo at Madison condominiums, they were concerned about developers' plans to put the supermarket on top of a two-story parking garage. At its Sept. 28 meeting, the City Council indicated it would support rezoning to build the Publix between Azeele and Platt streets if developers would revert to their original plans, which had the grocery on the ground floor. A ground-level store would be more accessible to pedestrians. The developers, RMC Property Group, agreed, with the caveat that if they put the grocery on the ground floor, they could not open up the garage to afterhours parking because of liability concerns. Ultimately, that wasn't a great concern to anyone, considering the Publix couldn't open the garage to noncustomer parking until about 11 p.m. Most attendees agreed that was a few hours too late to provide parking relief for SoHo area bar hoppers. At the council meeting, representatives of the Oscawana-Courier City Neighborhood Association noted that their group was 58 percent in favor of the Publix, though several who supported it still were concerned about traffic, parking and other issues. Most of the public speakers echoed Jeff Black, who lives nearby on S Albany Avenue. He told council members that he was "part of the 58 percent, but only 60 percent of me is voting for the proposed Publix." "I do have some reservations," specifically putting the grocery on the top floor, he said. Several other speakers noted concerns about shoppers dealing with the one-way traffic, traffic congestion and parking issues in the early evening. The council voted to support a revised site plan with the ground-floor grocery. RMC officials will present the new plan Oct. 19. Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431.
[Last modified October 5, 2006, 07:07:04]
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