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The Jacksonville City Council approved four bills Tuesday night, including the Pope & Land development in Riverside and a bill that streamlines the city's economic development process.

The Pope & Land bill authorized the Riverside Park development. The city will spend $1.8 million to improve the infrastracture near the project and would authorize $5 million in Recapture Enhanced Value (Rev) Grants.

The development is on an 11-acre site that Pope & Land Enterprises Inc. of Atlanta acquired from a bank in late 2011. According to the proposal, Atlanta-based Lincoln Property Co. would build a $37 million, 300-apartment community that would front Park Street and be bordered by Magnolia, Leila and Jackson streets.

Today Fuqua Development and their capital partner, The Lionstone Group, working with Mayor Michael B. Hancock and the University of Colorado, confirmed they are in negotiations with King Soopers for the anchor retail location of a revised development plan for the former CU Health Sciences Center site at East 9 th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.

"The city and our partners have worked tirelessly for nearly a decade to create a development at 9 th and Colorado that the neighbors - and the entire city - can be proud of," Mayor Michael B. Hancock said. "Although negotiations are ongoing, I am excited at the prospect of one of Denver's best-known and respected retailers stepping forward to work with us in fulfilling our vision for this area."

Kroger Co. is negotiating for one of its grocery stores to anchor the redevelopment of the old University of Colorado Hospital at East Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard - replacing Walmart, which pulled out last month amid outcry from the neighborhood.

What kind of store, whether it is a King Soopers or a more upscale brand from the Kroger chain, is still being discussed, said Janice Sinden, chief of staff for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

Sinden said one option being explored is a Fresh Fare store - one of Kroger's new-style stores that have upscale meats and seafood, gourmet cheeses and natural and organic foods, as well as chef-prepared meals to take home, besides the usual array of grocery items.

If you've driven by the intersection of Peachtree Parkway and Peachtree Corners Circle, the blue and white sign announcing a new development on that corner has probably caught your eye.

The sign announces that a new "speciality retail development" called "Peachtree Corners Place" is planned for the corner across the street from Dreamland restaurant.

An Atlanta-based company, Fuqua Development, has its eye on the property. Patch spoke briefly with Jeff Fuqua, spokesman for the company who said the company was in the early planning stages.

A former Sembler executive and one of metro Atlanta's most prolific retail developers is behind the effort to buy Scott Boulevard Baptist Church and turn the property into a retail center.

Atlanta-based Fuqua Development, started earlier this year by former Sembler president Jeff Fuqua, wants to redevelop the church into Decatur Crossing. The 40,000-square foot retail center would include a bank, restaurants and retail shops, according to a company flier about the project.

That development does not yet include the residences adjacent to the church along Barton Way and Blackmon Drive that were contacted last week by Atlanta Land Group about selling their homes and land to redevelopers. The Fuqua Development flier shows a redevelopment area only where the church currently sits.

Few commercial real estate officials have garnered more Denver news coverage in the past year than Jeff Fuqua.

The principal of Atlanta-based Fuqua Development LLC is redeveloping the former University of Colorado Hospital site at East Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, owned by the University of Colorado.

Fuqua worked for The Sembler Co. for 25 years, including the last five (until March) as president. He formed his own company in March and made the Denver redevelopment site his new company's top priority.

The Denver Business Journal announced the winners for the 2012 Power Book today during a luncheon event at the Marriott City Center in downtown Denver.

The Power Book is an exclusive look at business leaders in 14 industry categories who made news in the last year or who, in the DBJ's editorial department's judgment, otherwise deserve recognition for their most recent business accomplishments.

Winner: Jeff Fuqua, Fuqua Development LLC.

Developer Jeff Fuqua is tweaking plans to redevelop the former University of Colorado Hospital site now that Walmart has decided against being part of it, The Denver Post reports.

Fuqua told the newspaper the project "will look a little different, but it will get done -- and quickly."

Walmart was going to anchor the 28-acre site at Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard but the idea of the large retailer drew vocal opposition from neighborhood groups. Fuqua said he's looking for another large retailer or two to fill the space Walmart was to occupy. He also might add more of a residential component to the project, he told the Post.

(VIDEO) Walmart is walking away from the 9th and Colorado redevelopment project. It's a big victory for neighbors who opposed the retailer moving into the area.

Hundreds of neighbors rallied against the retail giant, and on Tuesday company spokesperson Joshua Phair issued a statement confirming Walmart is no longer involved:

"While Walmart will not be part of the planned redevelopment of the former University of Colorado Health Sciences campus, we will continue to evaluate other opportunities to serve Denver area customers and expand access to affordable groceries...

When Jeff Fuqua told us his proposed shopping center near Glenwood Park would look similar to the Edgewood Retail District, he wasn't kidding. The veteran developer, who wants to build nearly 200,000 total square feet of retail on a former concrete facility near the greenie mixed-use project and along the Atlanta Beltline, passed along renderings of the project last night.

We're waiting to hear where the 155,00-square foot anchor tenant, which some have speculated might become a Walmart, might fit in among the sketches. Fuqua said yesterday he's holding talks with many retailers for the large space, which could even be broken up among several tenants, and hopes to break ground next spring.

A developer is planning a large retail project by Atlanta's Glenwood Park just south of Interstate 20.

Fuqua Development filed plans Monday for the project at 800 Glenwood Ave., with a 155,000-square-foot retail anchor and 40,000 square feet of "neighborhood-scale" retail.

The proposal comes as Fuqua is already planning a $90 million mixed-use development in Buckhead anchored by a nearly 150,000-square-foot Walmart.

The site where his new Glenwood development would take shape is owned by Williams Bros. Concrete Inc., according to the city of Atlanta. It's also just west of Glenwood Park, a new-urbanism mixed-use project developed several years ago by Charles Brewer.

Whenever Walmart wants to build a store, there's almost always controversy. A proposal to bring Walmart to Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood is no different. This week, two Atlanta City Council committees approved the plan with no recommendation. A final city council could vote on Monday.

Developer Jeff Fuqua has plans for 20 acres in Buckhead. The land is connected to Lindbergh Drive and Piedmont Road. It's there Fuqua says he wants to build a Walmart, multi-family units and a park. For years now, Fuqua's had his eye on the land for what he calls a between $85 and $90 million investment.

New retail development was the topic of a panel discussion moderated by Hartman Simons partner Bob Simons earlier this week. Panelists included Jeff Fuqua of Fuqua Development, Charlie Hendon of Hendon Properties and Mark Toro of North American Properties. The discussion was held at the Sandy Springs, Ga., headquarters of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors (ACBR). The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and ACBR sponsored the discussion, which was part of a daylong continuing education session.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has sent an e-mail to members of the City Council urging that the proposed 9th and Colorado project, which includes Walmart as the proposed anchor, go forward. Noting that the former University of Colorado Hospital site has remained "empty and blighted" for years, Hancock said, "It is now in the best interest of the neighborhoods and the city to facilitate viable retail development for this area."

A couple hundred people turning out for a public meeting Thursday about a controversial re-development project in Denver. Neighbors want the area at E. 9th Ave. and Colorado Blvd. redeveloped-but they don't want the Walmart store that comes with it. It was standing room only at the more than two-hour meeting at National Jewish Hospital.

Leave it to a developer raised in the Mile High City to be bullish on its prospects--enough to bet $180M on it.

We chatted with Atlanta-based Fuqua Development's Jeff Fuqua (the horses refused to comment) this week about the former University of Colorado Hospital campus, now an ambitious $180M redevelopment program capped by plans for a unique urban-styled Walmart. Jeff joined forces with Texas-based equity firm Lionstone Group to demolish 2.5M SF of existing buildings and replace it with 300k SF of retail space, 325 apartment units and the renovation of the former nurses domitory into a planned office building.

Walmart has picked Buckhead for its third intown Atlanta store. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is planning a 150,000-square-foot Supercenter as part of a $90 million mixed-use development in the Lindbergh area. If approved, the overall project would create about 600 jobs and could provide a much-needed grocery store to an area that's lacked one.

After five years of inactivity, a failed start by a high-profile developer and a recession, it appears the redevelopment of the former University of Colorado Hospital campus at East Eighth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard is finally going to get started.

The mostly vacant property, the former home of the University of Colorado Hospital and the CU Medical School, has a new developer, city approval of its general development plan and an equity partner on board. Demolition work is expected to start this year.

The developer behind many of Atlanta's major mixed-use projects is expanding his reach across North America with a new business venture. Jeff Fuqua has left The Sembler Co. to form his own company, Fuqua Development. He brings with him several colleagues from Sembler including a former vice president, Heather Correa. "We are taking the most seasoned development team, certainly in the Southeast," Fuqua said.

Jeff Fuqua, one of Atlanta's most prolific retail developers of the past decade, is leaving the The Sembler Co. to start his own development company.

Fuqua was president of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based developer for the past five years, and during his nearly 25-year tenure with Sembler he was behind at least five major mixed-use projects in Atlanta: the Edgewood Retail District, Perimeter Place, the redevelopment of The Prado in Sandy Springs, Town Brookhaven, Park Place and Lindbergh Plaza.