The first phase, expected to be completed in the fall, will serve as a gateway to a master development called Town Creek. When built out, the Town Creek project will have at least five components: the Market at Town Creek, a medical facility, a residential mixed-use community, a commercial property and a big-box development.

Roswell, GA-based Mimms Enterprises, the developer of the Market at Town Creek, negotiated the lease with Food City. Mimms is working with John Forster, of the Nashville-based Shopping Center Group, and Keith Widmer, of Knoxville-based First Commercial, to lease the remainder of the space at the shopping center. Local retailers, a national soft goods retailer, a national office supply retailer and a national pet retailer are being targeting.

"We are looking to add a unique blend of national, regional and local retail tenants," says Mimms Enterprises director of marketing Brad Shoemaker. "People will have the conveniences of a big city in a small town setting."