This is what a typical Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market looks like. East Ridge officials took two major steps Thursday night toward getting what is likely a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market grocery store on the old community center and pool property off Monroe Street.
The city council unanimously approved two resolutions: one to rezone five acres from residential to commercial use and the other to sell that same property to Chattanooga developer Polestar Development, LLC, a subsidiary of The Hutton Co.
The move comes as Wal-Mart prepares to open a brand-new Neighborhood Market store -- a smaller-footprint, grocery-only line -- in Fort Oglethorpe early next month and another in Dalton, Ga., sometime in the middle of next year.
Polestar Development has developed several of the Neighborhood Market stores around the Southeast, and the company also owns property and has proposed unnamed grocery stores in East Brainerd and Brainerd.
Wal-Mart is currently installing a Neighborhood Market store at Highland Plaza in south Hixson, according to Chattanooga building permits.
Representatives from Polestar were on hand Thursday evening, and despite the two city council decisions, no one on the council dais or from Polestar used the name Wal-Mart to describe the proposed 41,100-square-foot grocery store.
"We don't even know if it's a Wal-Mart," East Ridge Vice Mayor Mark Gravitt told to a disgruntled resident. "We only know that it's a grocery store."
Polestar's history and the proposed store's similar footprint to typical Neighborhood Market stores, however, lend strong evidence to the fact that the store will be a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market.
The store will also have a fueling station out front, and primary access will be provided from Ringgold Road, not Monroe Street as was previously thought by Regional Planning Agency staffers who previously recommended denial of the rezoning request but changed prior to Thursday.
Polestar proposes to purchase the old Wendy's building and property on Ringgold Road and build a fueling station and entrance into the grocery.
Residents' main concerns revolved around a detention pond along East Ridge Avenue and old property line disputes stemming from the creation of the community center years ago.
"I'm not going to give [10 feet of disputed property] to Wal-Mart," said Ralph Joe Smith. "If they want to buy it, that's questionable. If they want to lease it, it'll be $3 a square foot."
The next step is for the developers to file building permits with the city.
Ben Berry, of Berry Engineers, said the project is "very, very close to being fully permitted."
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.