After months of speculation, it was revealed at a Monroe City Council meeting in January last year that there were plans to bring a major commercial development to Monroe, including a large grocery store. The community was thrilled – and then everything went quiet. There has been no further public discussion for about 20 months.
The commercial development was planned for property north of Highway 78 going out on Highway 11 towards Winder. But while everything went quiet after the initial reveal, it appears that behind the scenes things have been progressing, albeit at a much slower pace. A vote taken by the Monroe City Council last night for a land swap with the property owners is expected to help get things back on track.
The City voted unanimously Tuesday to exchange 1.339 acres of city property for 1.136 acres of property owned by Ayefour Development, Inc., Rowell Family Partnership, LLP and Still Family Reality, for a new roadway to be built “to improve road connectivity, reduce congestion and improve surface thoroughfare and ‘square-up’ potential commercial development lots.”
People have also noticed new signs on Highway 78 and Charlotte Rowell Blvd advertising “Monroe Pavilion” with a contact number for developer John Argo of MAB American Properties. Argo did not return calls for information on the status of the development, but Rowell said there are still plans for a large grocery store to anchor the development, although he couldn’t say which grocery chain it would be.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.