Murder Kroger is the name by which the Kroger supermarket at 725 Ponce de Leon Avenue in Poncey-Highland, Atlanta [1] has been known for decades. [2] [3] [4] The store opened in the 1980s. The store's parking lot has been the scene of two fatal shootings and the discovery of a corpse. In 1991, a 25-year-old woman named Cynthia Prioleau was shot and killed. In 2002, the malodorous corpse of a man was found inside a car. In 2015, an Alabama man, Joshua R. Richey, was shot and killed. The 2015 murder occurred after the store had been renovated and promoted by the company as "Beltline Kroger".
Even though the original store was demolished in 2016 and an entirely new store within a larger mixed-use development called 725 Ponce opened in 2019, "Murder Kroger" continued to be described as a nickname "that just won't die". [2] [5]
Prior to its construction, the store was originally occupied by land owned by Ford Factory Square. [6] The land was bought in the 1980s for $900,000. [7] The store opened on July 2, 1986. [8] [9] From the 1990s, [10] and until at least 2002, [11] the store had drivers license renewal services. After two Publix supermarkets opened nearby, the store was refurbished around 2002. [12]
In January 1990, a bomb-like device was found inside the store. It did not go off. [13] In October 1999, a man robbed the Bank of America inside the store. [14] A song titled "Murder Kroger" by the group Attractive Eighties Women, which incorporates a mention of the nearby Clermont Lounge into the lyrics, is dedicated to shoppers who frequent the store. [15] [16] Renovations were scheduled for completion in November 2014 at the market, including a bike/pedestrian ramp to the Atlanta BeltLine's Eastside Trail, a bike repair station, new curbs and sidewalks (including paved sidewalk access to Ponce de Leon Avenue), new trees and landscaping, a "water quality pond" in the parking lot to filter runoff, new LED parking lot lighting and repaving the front and back parking lots. [17] [18] [19] [20]
On January 15, 2016, Kroger announced that the location would be demolished to make way for 725 Ponce, a mixed-use development incorporating office space, a new Kroger store, and expanded parking. [28] The original Kroger building was demolished shortly after it was closed in October 2016. [2]
Kroger opened a new store on October 16, 2019, at the same location, as part of the 725 Ponce development. Despite hopes from Kroger officials that the nickname "Murder Kroger" will not be applied to the new store, the name has already been adopted to refer to the new structure as well. [2] A headline from 11 Alive called it a former nickname [2] while a headline from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked "'Murder Kroger' no more?". [29] Decaturish, meanwhile, stated that "locals have a name for [the store] that just won't die". [5] Attempts to re-brand the location as "Beltline Kroger" proved unsuccessful, with the nickname instead being ascribed to another Kroger located several miles away, also on the Beltline.
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Poncey–Highland is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, located south of Virginia–Highland. It is so named because it is near the intersection of east/west Ponce de Leon Avenue and north/southwest North Highland Avenue. This Atlanta neighborhood was established between 1905 and 1930, and is bordered by Druid Hills and Candler Park across Moreland Avenue to the east, the Old Fourth Ward across the BeltLine Eastside Trail to the west, Inman Park across the eastern branch of Freedom Parkway to the south, and Virginia Highland to the north across Ponce de Leon Avenue. The Little Five Points area sits on the border of Poncey–Highland, Inman Park, and Candler Park.
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The Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant at 699 Ponce de Leon Avenue in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia was the headquarters of the Ford Motor Company's southeastern US operations from 1915 to 1942. As a result of good sales in Atlanta, and a desire to decentralize production, Ford established a combined assembly, sales, service and administration facility on Ponce de Leon Avenue, selling a peak of 22,000 vehicles per year. The assembly plant produced Model Ts, Model As and V-8s until 1942, when the plant was sold to the War Department and a new plant was opened in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville.
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Briarcliff Plaza, also known as Ponce de Leon Plaza, is a strip mall-type shopping center designed by architect George Harwell Bond and opened in 1939 at the southwest corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Highland Avenue in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta. Braircliff Plaza was developed by Relnac Inc., and was proposed to cost $300,000. Construction began after the last home on the block was purchased by Relnac Inc., the Dr. Robin Adair estate, and Briarcliff Plaza opened throughout 1939 with businesses such as Dupree Dry Cleaners, Blick’s Bowling Alley, Holcomb Flowers, the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Company and Nick Caruso’s Big Place which offered shoe repair, hat cleaning, pressing, repairing and hat cleaning. It was Atlanta's first shopping center with off-street parking. It is anchored by the historic Plaza Theatre and Urban Outfitters. A portion of the historic plaza area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
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725 Ponce is a 190-million-dollar mixed-use development under construction at 725 Ponce de Leon Avenue along the Atlanta BeltLine in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. It includes a 360,000-square-foot, 12 story office tower atop a new Kroger supermarket replacing the Kroger store demolished in 2016, which will connect to the BeltLine trail via a set of "M.C. Escher-esque steps", restaurants and a covered outside patio.
Company officials are highlighting the many new features of the store, hoping to leave the old nickname in the rear view mirror.
...one of the city's quirky charms that Atlantans seem to both love and hate at the same time.
The grocery stores are scheduled to open at 699 Ponce De Leon Avenue on July 2 and at 2865 Stewart Avenue next January
Kroger plans to open a 45,000-square-foot store at Ponce de Leon Place and Ponce de Leon Avenue this year, three blocks from that Big Star.
Renewals and handicap parking permits: Kroger store, 725 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta 30308(subscription required)
When Publix tore down an old A&P and built a new store on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta last year, it also decided to open a store less than two miles away at North Avenue and Piedmont Road. The move put Publix on both sides of an older Kroger on Ponce. Kroger responded by renovating that store.(subscription required)