A federal bankruptcy ruling earlier this week in Newnan has opened the door for the construction of a Sam’s Club store at the Fischer Crossing retail development on the northwest corner of Ga. Highway 34 and Fischer Road, less than one mile west of Peachtree City's western city limits.

Speaking earlier this week on the Chapter 11 reorganization, Fischer Crossing developer Scott Seymour discussed the bankruptcy proceeding and its outcome under Bankruptcy Judge W. H. Drake.

Seymour said the court decision paves the way for a closing with Bright-Meyers Peachtree City Associates, LLC on the property on which the 136,000 square-foot Sam’s Club is to be located. The closing is expected in July. Sam’s Club will anchor the northwest side of development at Fischer and Hwy. 34.

As the crow flies, that's eight-tenths of a mile west of the Ga. Highway 54 bridge over Line Creek. The Sam's Club will be within two miles of its corporate sibling, a 24-hour Super Walmart in Wilksmoor Village.

It will be the third Sam's Club on the south side of Atlanta, the others being near Southlake Mall in Clayton County and near McDonough in Henry County.

“Judge Drake approved the sale to Bright-Meyers and approved us rejecting the (Aliance Entertainment’s Great Escapes Theater) contract,” Seymour said. ”We will close the Bright-Meyers deal by the end of July and anticipate construction of the Sam’s Club to start in August. Once we close Sam’s we anticipate resurrecting some of the past tenants we had.” 

Seymour said the Sam’s Club construction should take approximately one year. And beyond that, he said, “Let the anchor come in and we’ll see what happens.” Seymour on Thursday said the Fischer Crossing development will have a movie theater, although not the one originally envisioned for the project.

Bright-Meyers in February filed a development agreement with Coweta County, stating its intention to proceed with the retail project.

As conceived, the entire 800,000 square-foot Fischer Crossing development would span the northeast, northwest and southwest corners of the Hwy. 34/Fischer Road intersection. A multi-screen theater was initially expected to anchor the northeast corner of the development.

Sam's Club is a chain of more than 700 membership-only retail warehouse clubs in every state but Oregon and Vermont, according to Wikipedia. Owned and operated by Walmart Stores, Inc., the chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members, many of whom pay $25 a year for the membership card.

Most merchandise is sold in bulk and directly off pallets. Clubs are arranged much like a warehouse, with merchandise stocked in warehouse-style steel bins. Most locations also have have pharmacy, tire and battery, photo, bakery, optical, café and floral departments. Small businesses can buy at wholesale prices, minus sales taxes, on items they later re-sell.