New shopping development to bring ALDI store and an eatery that makes ‘ButterBurgers’
An Atlanta developer has started work on an 18-acre parcel of property in north Phenix City that will initially include a grocery store and a restaurant chain best known for its “ButterBurgers” and frozen custard.
The development, which is being called Phenix City Marketplace, is located off U.S. Hwy. 280/431 across from a Walmart Supercenter. Site work on the commercial property should be completed by May 1, with construction starting and wrapping sometime in October.
Halpern Enterprises, which also developed a small strip center last year adjacent to Walmart, said Tuesday that the Germany-based grocery chain Aldi is one of the tenants for the new center, along with Culver’s, a Wisconsin-based company that aside from ButterBurgers and custard also offers items such as chicken tenders and sandwiches, fish and cheese curds.
Site work should be completed by May 1, with construction starting then and wrapping sometime in October, said Halpern marketing director Jaime Luckey. ALDI and Culver’s will determine their opening dates at that time, she said. This is Culver’s first location in the Columbus-Phenix City area.
“We expect Aldi and Culver’s to successfully fill a demand in the market for a grocery store and family-friendly restaurant,” Halpern Vice President Marc Kirchhoff said in a statement. He cited Phenix City’s “strong economic climate” for the new development, which at one time was a possible site for a Lowe’s home improvement store.
This will be the second ALDI food store in the local market, with one opening at 6301 Veterans Parkway in north Columbus in November 2015. The retailer is known for its cost efficiencies, which include stocking some brands specific to the ALDI chain, selling fewer items in general to choose from compared to large supermarkets, and prompting customers to insert a quarter into a shopping cart to use one, then getting the coin back when they leave the food market.
Culver’s, which touts using fresh-not-frozen beef, was founded in 1984 and has grown to roughly 700 locations in the U.S. It is headquartered in Prairie du Sac, Wisc., and is currently in an expansion mode. The company calls its “ButterBurgers” that because the double-patty and cheese sandwich receives a light coat of butter on the top of the bun.
Halpern said Tuesday it will have about 4 acres of land remaining to develop at Phenix City Marketplace, which is next to Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Verizon Wireless, Waffle House and Precision Tune Auto Care. One lot is next to the McDonald’s.
The same Atlanta development company also opened a three-tenant shopping center last year next to Walmart called Phenix City Station. It already has an Aspen Dental office and a T-Mobile store, with a Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurant on the way. Halpern said Tuesday that Moe’s is projected to open on March 22.
This story was originally published January 29, 2019 at 4:57 PM.