News

Publix developer files site plan for Greenville Hwy.

City planners will take comments about a proposed development on Greenville Highway at White Street on Monday, June 8.

By Bill Moss, Published: June 8, 2015

A developer that builds shopping centers for Publix has filed an application for permission to build a 49,000-square-foot supermarket on Greenville Highway at White Street.

In a move that appears to confirm the Florida chain’s plans to build in Hendersonville, Boca Raton-based Halvorsen Development Corporation filed paperwork at City Hall for a store on 6.8 acres that includes Atha Plaza, the old Tractor Shed restaurant, Pro-Source hardware supplier and El Paso restaurant.
The first review of the developer’s plans is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday, June 15, at the City Operations Center when city planners host a neighborhood compatibility meeting. At a neighborhood compatibility meeting, the applicant typically describes a proposed project including plans for parking, stormwater and traffic control. Adjoining property owners and others are given the opportunity to comment and ask questions.

City Council members, while generally supportive of getting a new Publix at the south gateway location, have pointed out that traffic and stormwater control will be issues to watch.
The prospective development was first identified as a site for a Publix store in a public meeting in February when Halvorsen asked the Hendersonville City Council to sell a small parcel of floodplain land the developer needed to for the project. In its application for a special-use permit and rezoning from highway business to planned commercial development, the developer lists 10 parcels that make up the land.
Several of the parcels are owned by Atha Plaza owner Larry Baber and his daughter and son-in-law.
“I have not closed the deal,” Baber said Monday. “I’ve not heard from them lately. I didn’t know they were going to put the signs up. I haven’t conversed with them about anything they have planned.”

Kim Reynolds, the Charlotte-based media spokesman for Publix Super Markets, said she could not confirm specifics about the grocer's plans.

"We are always looking at new sites to better serve our customers," she said in an email. "We do not comment on sites without signed leases"

Representatives from Halvorsen did not return a call seeking comment. The developer, which has developed shopping centers for Publix in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, typically does not identify the store owner when it starts the permitting process. A planning director in Cornelius, while refusing to confirm Publix was coming to that town, described Halvorsen as “the sole developer” of Publix stores, according to one account.
The Florida-based supermarket chain is clearly on the march in North Carolina. It announced in April that it had bought two closed Lowes Foods stores in North Carolina, in Gastonia and Cary. It has built stores in Charlotte and Asheville and was not expected to ignore the second largest city in Western North Carolina for long.
“We’ve opened eight stores in North Carolina within the past year, solidifying our commitment to growth within the state," Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw said in a news release. “Our associates continue to provide customers with premier service, quality products and an enjoyable shopping experience. As the largest employee-owned supermarket in the nation, our associates are passionate about serving customers, and meeting and exceeding their expectations. Our service-oriented culture is continuing to foster a loyal customer following in North Carolina and across all our market areas.”
The growth would appear to be boosting the bottom line, too. The grocery chain said that its sales for the first quarter of 2015 were $8.3 billion, up 6.8 percent from last year’s total of $7.8 billion. Comparable-store sales for the first quarter of 2015 increased 5.3 percent. Net earnings were $548.9 million, compared to $493.7 million in 2014, an increase of 11.2 percent. Earnings per share for the first quarter increased to $0.71 for 2015, up from $0.63 per share in 2014.