The next Parker's Kitchen convenience store is coming to this busy Augusta intersection

Developers of a proposed 5,000-square-foot convenience store at the main entrance to Doctors Hospital have put the project out to bid.

Contractors have until May 21 to submit proposals to help build a new Parker’s Kitchen at 3645 Wheeler Rd., where it intersects with Medical Center Drive.

The idea of putting the store at the busy intersection drew complaints from nearby residents in 2023. Sharon Kaminer presented the Augusta Commission with a petition bearing the signatures of more than 400 people who objected to the Parker’s at an intersection that already generates significant traffic from a McDonald’s restaurant and a Walgreens pharmacy.

The commission instead voted in September 2023 to rezone that address to a business classification that would allow Parker’s to build the convenience store after demolishing the current building on the site. The two-story bank with a five-lane drive-thru was built as a major Wachovia branch in 1994 and put up for sale in 2019.

Over protests: Rezoning for Parker's Kitchen site passes Augusta Commission

The commission vote came three months after Parker’s announced an aggressive expansion plan for its chain of stores into the Augusta-area market. In June 2023 Parker’s announced it would build one of its Kitchens on the site of a former Popeye’s at the corner of Windsor Spring and Tobacco roads.

The Augusta Chronicle first reported in 2023 that the company also plans to erect a Parker's Kitchen in Columbia County at the entrance to Riverwood Plantation, where Washington Road intersects William Few Parkway.

Daniel Ben-Yisrael, who manages real estate for Parker’s Kitchen, told Columbia County commissioners at the time that the company had identified eight sites in Richmond and Columbia counties to place new locations over the next couple of years.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Parker's Kitchen project near hospital accepting bids through May 21