Sprayberry Crossing demolition Archives

A date many in the vicinity of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center have been anticipating for years will soon come to pass.

On April 11, the first phase of the demolition of the blighted retail center begins, starting with the former Bruno’s grocery store.

What has been a community eyesore for more than two decades will be giving way to a mixed use development of senior apartments, townhomes and some retail and restaurant space.

Atlantic Realty Acquisitions LLC got rezoning last June from Cobb commissioners to redevelop Sprayberry Crossing, and existing businesses began relocating at the start of 2022.

The parcels making up the assemblage were sold in December to East Cobb Venture Partners, LLC, a holding company formed last October, for nearly $13 million.

“It’s been a long struggle, but the end is here,” said Joe Glancy, a co-founder of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group that’s pushed for the property’s redevelopment.

He said the area will be fenced off by the end of March, with openings for independent businesses fronting Sandy Plains Road.

But you won’t be able to cut through the backside of the property between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road.

Glancy said asbestos removal also is continuing through March, and a pest control company has installed around 200 rodent traps for the demolition process.

There also could be some Cobb fire and police training at the old structures.

Construction is expected to begin in August and should take around 18 months, Glancy said, and family members of the Mayes Family Cemetery will have access.

He said he doesn’t know yet whether the public will be invited to watch the demolition begin, “but I know many of us can’t wait and would like to be on site to witness it. I’d bring my own sledgehammer if they’d let me.”

He also posted the fencing map outlined below in red.

Once developed, the new Sprayberry Crossing will have 132 senior apartments and 102 townhomes and retail and restaurant space. The cemetery also will remain intact.

But plans for an anchor 34,000-square-foot Lidl grocery store were scuttled when the developer couldn’t come to a traffic agreement with the Sprayberry Bottle Shop, located across from the intersection of Sandy Plains Road and Kinjac Drive.

That’s where Cobb DOT recommended the main entrance to the new development, since there’s a traffic signal there now.

Sprayberry Crossing demolition map