Sevier News Messenger Sevier County News and Opinion
Sevier County will soon be home to popular Southeastern supermarket chain, Publix Super Markets, as the company plans to open a 45,600 square foot store in early 2016 in Pigeon Forge. The store will serve as the anchor tenant of Valley Forge Shopping Center, located at the intersection of Wears Valley Road and the Parkway in Pigeon Forge.
“Publix Super Markets will strive to become the supermarket of choice for the Pigeon Forge and greater Sevier County community next year,” said Brenda Reid, Media and Community Relations Manager of Publix’s Atlanta Division. “Publix differentiates itself by providing excellent customer service and quality fresh products,” said Reid.
Earlier this year, developers broke ground at the Valley Forge Shopping Center site, which is situated on more than five acres. In addition to Publix, the development will be home to other retail tenants, occupying an additional 10,000 square feet.
A rendering of the new Valley Forge Shopping Center and Publix in Pigeon Forge
Knoxville-based development team, CHM, LLC, is spearheading the project. They have worked with the Florida-based retail giant on other projects in the area, including the redevelopment of Northshore Town Center in West Knoxville, as well as University Commons, Knoxville’s first urban, vertical retail center located adjacent to the University of Tennessee campus.
“We’re excited to once again be working with Publix and are proud to be a part of their continued growth here in East Tennessee,” said Budd Cullom of CHM, LLC. “We love this location and are looking forward to 2016, when we are able to officially open the doors and welcome the residents of Sevier County along with the many visitors who choose to vacation in this area each year.”
Publix operates more than 1,000 stores across six states in the Southeast.
Principal partners of CHM, LLC include Budd Cullom, Jim Harrison and Mike McGuffin. These three veteran developers bring many years of retail experience to this project. Collectively, they have developed more than 10 million square feet of retail projects throughout the Southeast featuring Publix, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Kmart, Best Buy and many others.
