The appetite for townhome communities along Moreland Avenue has spelled the downfall of a former eastside grocery store known in recent years for its consonant-challenged signage.
On a corner lot in Ormewood Park where Moreland meets Ormewood avenues, the former Jiffy Grocery building has been razed for a 22-unit project that will join other townhomes ventures popping up along the busy thoroughfare between Reynoldstown and East Atlanta.
The shuttered grocer’s Moreland Avenue-facing signage, missing its “J” for roughly seven years, rendered the building “Iffy Grocery.” Jokes about not wanting to buy your chicken or shrimp there ensued.
The signage after the building had shuttered. It'd been closed about seven years before its demolition in 2021. Google Maps
The .9-acre property last sold for $920,000 in 2016, doubling the previous sales price to Citizens Trust Bank in 2012, according to property records.
Demolition permits were issue in May. Removal of the structures was expected to cost about $31,000.
Property records identify the owner as Monte Hewett Homes.
In 2017, developers Third & Urban announced plans at the site for a “micro” mixed-use node called The Elway that didn’t materialize. The corner lot has since been marketed for sale, for several years.
The corner lot where two buildings had stood. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
The community's planned layout where the grocery once stood. 1160 Ormewood LLC, City of Atlanta Planning Department, via WNA
An LLC called 1160 Ormewood Ave., which includes members of Monte Hewett and Novare Group, plans to build all 22 units as three-bedrooms, alongside 44 surface parking spaces, as What Now Atlanta reports, citing special administrative permit documents.
The development will neighbor the modern, six-townhome project by the Xmetrical firm called The Ormewood, located just to the north.
No word yet on a historical marker honoring Iffy.
• Agent: Condos carved into Ormewood church building have nearly sold out (Urbanize Atlanta)
