The famed Lines Orchids greenhouse site on Signal Mountain will soon be paved over to make way for a large supermarket, gas station and office complex, if a rezoning request submitted to the Regional Planning Commission by the new owners of the property wins approval.
Applicant LOP LLC is seeking “rezone with special uses permit .
. . to allow 49,000 sq. ft. food/grocery store with fuel center and 10,000 sq. ft. office/retail building,” according to documents submitted to the RPC.
The grocery store chain is not identified in the application. However, Food City has made a practice of building “fuel centers” near their stores since entering the Chattanooga market in 2015.
The proposed grocery is 11,000-square-feet larger than the Food City supermarket which North Carolina-based Keith Corp. sought permission last year to build across the street from Pruetts,Signal’s longtime hometown grocery.
That request was rejected by Signal council members after standing-room-only crowds of protesters packed town meetings to oppose the project.
Signal will have no say in whether the proposed Lines Orchids supermarket complex is built, since that property is located in the town of Walden.
The new request comes a little more than five months after Lines owners announced the 23-acre property had been sold to LOP, LLC for $1,850,000.
The request was submitted on LOP’s behalf by Chattanooga attorney John Anderson.