Publix opens new Summerhill store in a former Turner Field parking lot

The parking lot where millions of baseball fans parked for decades to attend Atlanta Braves games is now a critical food option for one of Atlanta’s fastest-changing neighborhoods.

Publix opened a location in Summerhill, south of downtown, on Wednesday morning, providing fresh food access to an area that’s lacked a grocer for generations. Located at 572 Hank Aaron Dr., the store acts as a capstone to the neighborhood’s rapid transformation from Turner Field into a mixed-use district with hundreds of apartments, restaurants and retail shops. Georgia State University assumed the former Turner Field, turning it into a football stadium and the university has also built a new 8,000-seat convocation center just a few blocks north along Georgia Avenue.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens ushered dozens of customers into the store after cutting a grand opening ribbon Wednesday, adding that the neighborhood has been starved of basic necessities like groceries for too long. John Helton, the president of Organized Neighbors of Summerhill, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he’s been waiting for this day for decades.

Written By Zachary Hansen - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Photos by Brandon Amato