Long story short: Kroger on Ponce de Leon AKA “Murder Kroger,” to undergo massive teardown and reconstruction as fancy-schmancy office building.
The biggest flaw of this whole idea is the fact that a Kroger is going to be re-built into this supposed mixed-use office/commercial space. If Kroger just sold the property, and closed up shop, would it really only be feasible for the Murder Kroger moniker to really die (no pun intended); and even then only the most grasping and dedicated folks would continue to refer to the property as something that doesn’t exist there anymore.
But keeping a Kroger on the patch of land known as Murder Kroger only solidifies the fact that it will remain being called Murder Kroger, no matter how modern, how chic and how new and clean the eventual new mixed-use space will be. The city can put the nicest, most cleanest and shiny new businesses in the heart of Ponce, but it doesn’t change the people that go to it. Without fail, hipsters will shop at the new Kroger, still making sure to remind their friends that this is still Murder Kroger.
The funny thing is that even after the reconstruction of the place, all it’s going to take is one more killing in the parking lot, to remind everyone that it’s still Murder Kroger, no matter what manner the environment actually looks. And given the fact that there’s been four deaths in the past 25 years in this one parking lot, it’s only a matter of time until another unfortunate demise occurs there again, irregardless of its surroundings.