Photo obtained via https://www.facebook.com/YourDekalbFarmersMarket/

People who drive by Your DeKalb Farmers Market on East Ponce de Leon first noticed a flurry of activity around the market in 2014 as the grocery store began the process of expanding.

But after a massive clearing of the acreage adjacent to the current store, the work seems to have come to a standstill. As one Decaturish reader recently put it, “One has to wonder is why (owner) Robert Blazer (a private man admittedly) would spend 18 months and untold thousands of dollars in site prep clearing, grading and blasting for the installation of storm sewers in preparation for this grand expansion and then allow it to sit untouched for 10 months. We now see weeds growing up through the gravel site. One has to wonder… It looks like a ghost town without the town.”

Blazer sent Decaturish an email on June 1 confirming that the project is still moving forward.

DeKalb Farmers Market owner Robert Blazer. Photo by Dan Whisenhunt

“We are in the final planning stages for the first stage of construction,” Blazer wrote. “We are self funding our development so we are careful about what we are doing. I have been working on this design for several years. We have held this property for the past 32 years for this purpose. I need to make sure the facility will suit the needs of our retail and wholesale customers for the long term. Also the facility must be constructed for the long term which increases the initial investment and time for construction. We will continue to do site work this year.”

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Delays in any construction project are not uncommon. The original projection was for the first phase of the project to be finished by 2015 and the entire project to be completed by 2023.

When everything is done, there will be more than a million square feet of additional space, 2,800 more parking spaces and two new driveways: one on Ponce De Leon and one on DeKalb Industrial Way.

DFM’s expansion is so large it had to be vetted as a Development of Regional Impact by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

According to the DRI report:

– Phase 1 will consist of 361,972 square feet of warehouse and 186,703 square feet of retail. The existing retail area of 142,475 square feet will be converted to warehouse and wholesale area after the completion of Phase 1

– Phase 2 will consist of 223,530 square feet of warehouse

– Phase 3 will consist of 419,875 square feet of warehouse and 89,065 square feet of retail

– Phase 4 will consist of 98,774 square feet of warehouse and 53,186 square feet of retail

Expansion of the Farmers Market will create thousands of new vehicle trips each day, according to the DRI report, and the report recommends several intersection improvements, like optimizing signal timing.