Popular restaurant coming to Phenix City, one of three tenants in remodeled shopping center

A shopping center is now being redeveloped off U.S. Hwy. 280 in Phenix City, with a Moe’s Southwest Grill and an Aspen Dental office headed for the property adjacent to a Walmart Supercenter.

“Halpern’s exterior work will be complete in early May. We anticipate Moe’s and Aspen Dental to open this summer,” Jaime Luckey, marketing director for Atlanta-based Halpern Enterprises, the company working on the project, said Thursday via email. “We do not yet have a third tenant to announce.”

However, the rebuilt shopping center may be only the tip of the development potential for the general vicinity, with Halpern Enterprises also looking at an additional 19 acres across the highway from Walmart that could be home to several more businesses.

“It’s over between where McDonald’s and the Goodwill store is,” Steve Smith, Phenix City’s assistant city manager and utilities director, said Wednesday. “They’re working on getting the access easements and finishing their due diligence. But they have an option to buy the property and they are moving forward with some engineering and other work on it.”

The land that Halpern Enterprises has its eyes on is the same acreage that big-box home improvement retailer Lowe’s had considered building a store on a couple of years ago, a project that never gained traction. Home Depot for years has had a store about a mile away from that site.

Smith said there’s a considerable amount of civil engineering work that needs to be done before the 19 acres would be ready for construction of a shopping center. That includes moving plenty of earth and dealing with utility lines. A final decision on the project should come by early June.

“If it’s a go, they’ll start construction work fairly quickly. But you’re probably looking at next year before they have any businesses there,” he said. “They’re proposing seven or eight businesses in that location with the current plan.”

Smith also said that part of the current shopping center redevelopment at 3732 U.S. Hwy. 280 will include the extension of South Railroad Street that is parallel to the highway up to the parking lot of Vance Memorial Chapel. The street currently ends in front of the former CB&T of East Alabama bank branch, which now carries the Synovus brand.

The redeveloped center, when it opens in the coming weeks, will be home to a 1,200-square-foot Moe’s Southwest Grill, an Atlanta-based fast-casual restaurant with a menu that includes burritos, tacos, quesadillas, nachos and “bowls” of food. It has grown to nearly 700 locations in the U.S., including two in Columbus.

Aspen Dental, which will take about 3,500 square feet of space, is a Syracuse, N.Y.-based company that acts as a support organization for contracted dental practices that use the Aspen Dental brand. It already has a location on Veterans Parkway in north Columbus.

That will leave a 2,400-square-foot space for a third tenant, which Halpern Enterprises has yet to disclose, although an AT&T store has apparently been discussed for the center.

Halpern Enterprises purchases, develops, leases and manages shopping centers in five Southeast states, although much of its work is in Georgia, particularly in and around the Atlanta metro area. Brands that Halpern has worked with, according to the firm’s website, include PetSmart, Belk, TJMaxx, Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Ross Dress for Less, Hobby Lobby and Marshalls.

Prior to its redevelopment, the Phenix City shopping center that will soon be home to Moe’s Southwest Grill and Aspen Dental has had a variety of tenants through the years, including Flower Cart, Lincare, a Coldwell Banker office, and a pet grooming and boarding facility.

Data listed on the Halpern Enterprises website indicates the population within a 15-minute drive to the rebuilt shopping center is more than 153,000, which includes nearly 62,000 households and average annual household income of $62,826.

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Popular restaurant coming to Phenix City, one of three tenants in remodeled shopping center."