Stone Mountain Walmart Construction Could Start In a Month

Construction of the new Walmart on Memorial Drive and North Hairston Road in Stone Mountain could start within a month, a Walmart spokesman said at Friday's groundbreaking ceremony.

Glen Wilkins said the 150,000-square-foot store is slated to open in the second quarter of 2013 and will create 250 full and part-time jobs. The store will be smaller than the one on Memorial and Columbia.

A Super Walmart is also planned for . Developers have said demolition of the existing stores and site preparation should start in 2013.

In addition to Walmart reps, local business and community leaders, commissioners Sharon Barnes Sutton, Stan Watson and Larry Johnson and DeKalb County Superior Court Clerk Debra DeBerry attended the Friday ceremony.

"We've waited so long for revitalization to start on Memorial Drive, and this is just the beginning," Barnes Sutton said.

Local business groups are happy to see the Walmart coming.

Nick Goebeler, of the Memorial Drive Business Association and operator of the Chick-fil-A on Memorial Drive, said employment is only one piece.

With Walmart moving in, "the value of the real estate is going to go up" he said, pointing to several properties near the site that are for sale. "Increasing property value is going to be the biggest impact."

Nadine Rivers-Johnson, association on-site property manager for Mainstreet community near South Hairston and Redan Roads and editor-in-chief of Mainstreet's Mainstream newsletter, also attended Friday's groundbreaking.

"I think it'll bring continuity, and by being a super anchor tenant, it will bring stability, and it will bring small and local businesses," Rivers-Johnson said.