Food City in Athens among new high-dollar building permits

Of the 19 new building permits approved in Alabama last week for construction projects exceeding $1 million, five of them are for projects here in North Alabama.

The largest of those is for a new Food City grocery store in Athens.

A new Food City in Athens

54706953837 72c25409ae o scaled 1 — The new Food City is under construction. (City of Athens)

The new 57,000-square-foot retail supermarket, which will create 180 new area jobs, is expected to open in the spring.

In 2023, Food City made a $90 million commitment to build six new stores and create 1,350 jobs in the Huntsville metro over the next five years. The chain has already opened four stores in the Huntsville area (Hampton Cove, Governors Drive, Memorial Parkway and Old Gurley Road).

The Athens location will include a full-service pharmacy, gas station, Starbucks and floral boutique. Other features include:

An in-store bakery and deli
A hot food bar
Large café seating area
Asian wok
Fresh food bar offering a variety of soup, salad and fruit selections
Hickory wood smoker
Fresh sushi
In-store catering options
Full-service meat and seafood departments

JA Street & Associates is the lead contractor on this $7.6 million project.

More Alabama building permits

Thanks to our friends at Report Construction LLC, we have the list of all of the new million-dollar-plus construction projects approved in Alabama last week. Each week, they pull together information from building permits issued to get all the details on these projects. You can get access to all of their construction permits right here.

Here’s more on these new building permits in Alabama this week (Pro tip for mobile users: turn phone sideways for best viewing experience):

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Date	City	Builder	Owner of Project	Project Address	Amount
01/08/2026	Athens	J A Street & Associates Inc	J A Street & Associates Inc	17878 Lucas Ferry Road	$7,600,000
01/08/2026	Athens	Apel Machine & Supply	Apel Machine & Supply	910 West Elm Street	$1,207,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	P&M Mechanical INC	UAB	1714 S 9th Ave	$17,508,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	Pylon Building Group	B&G Birmingham Real Estate LLC	3008 Clairmont Ave	$1,869,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	Brasfield & Gorrie LLC	Sam Freese	3021 S 7th Ave	$42,585,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	David Acton Building Corporation	University of Alabama	1900 University Blvd	$3,979,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	Harris Robinson Construction Inc	One Highland Place LLC	2151 Highland Ave	$4,049,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	William Blair Reel Companies, Inc.	Red Roof Investments LLC	1424 N 25th St	$2,888,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	Prier Construction Inc	Church of the Highlands Inc	5720 S First Ave	$1,702,000
01/07/2026	Birmingham	Murray Construction Inc	Buffalo Rock Co Inc	111 Oxmoor Rd	$5,982,000
01/08/2026	Florence	Johnson Contractors, Inc.	City Of Florence	1050 Jim Spain Drive	$3,529,346
01/07/2026	Gardendale	The Roofing Dudes LLC	Carol Waid	1547 Shamrock Dr	$2,080,908
01/07/2026	Huntsville	The Robins & Morton Group Inc	Huntsville Hospital	101 Governors Dr Se	$1,989,172
01/07/2026	Huntsville	Burnett Roofing & Construction	Ses	248 Dunlop Blv Sw	$1,849,190
01/07/2026	Huntsville	Premier Structures Inc	Max Smith	6660 US 72 W Hwy Nw	$1,444,200
01/07/2026	Madison County	Premier Structures Inc	Madison County Commission	278 Shields Rd	$2,400,000
01/07/2026	Madison County	Arrowmont Constructors	owner not listed	11865 Highway 231 431 N	$2,530,000
01/07/2026	Mtn Brook	Southeast General Construction Inc	RC Limited LLC	2629 Cahaba Rd	$4,556,000
01/06/2026	Northport	TBG II LLC	PJ Talley	4225 Owen Parkway	$1,140,000