Auburn Publix to open in 2010

Years of speculation came to an end Monday when an Auburn developer announced construction will soon begin on a Publix store in south Auburn.

“I know there’s been speculation about this for some time,” Mayor Bill Ham said. “But until the documents are signed and the deal is done there couldn’t be any publicity.”

Construction on the grocery store and its surrounding shopping center at the corner of Moores Mill Road and Hamilton Road is scheduled to start in the early part of April, said Mike Shannon, president and chairman of Shannon Strobel & Weaver.

“We will probably have a store this time next year,” he said Monday at a press conference at City Hall.

Once built, the 54,000 square foot grocery store will be the largest in Auburn, Shannon said.

“This has been going on for some 16 months,” he said. “…(Publix) is very careful and they’re very careful about their markets. They made about three or four visits to Auburn and Opelika.”

The grocery will be the anchor store for the shopping center, Hamilton Place.

Shannon said no stores for the outlying parcels in the planned shopping center have been confirmed.

“From the city’s perspective, we’re very excited that a company that has the quality reputation of Publix has chosen to locate here in Auburn,” Auburn City Manager Charlie Duggan said.

“It’s a feather in this community’s cap that they are making the investment at this time,” Ham said. “That tells me that they are very certain that this community is steady.”