Oxford Planning Commission clears land merger for Sullivan’s Marketplace site

Oxford planners cleared a key land-use hurdle Monday for a proposed Sullivan’s Marketplace at Oxford Commons, approving a final plat amendment for The Summit, Phase 2 that combines four existing lots into one parcel of just over five acres. The change matters because the land can be bought one lot at a time, but it cannot be built as a single commercial project until the parcels are formally merged.

The request had been tabled in April after neighboring property owner Anita Chan objected. By the time the commission met, planning staff said they had received an email on April 26 withdrawing that objection, and Planning Director Ben Requet said staff recommended approval because no directly interested or adversely affected parties remained to block the action.

Paul Koshenina of Precision Engineering told the commission the project team is working with Sullivan’s Grocery Group on a grocery store with a small amount of retail on the site. Even so, a formal site application for the store itself had not yet been submitted, which means Oxford Commons still has more permitting and design work ahead before any construction can begin.

For Oxford, the approval is less about a ribbon-cutting than about momentum. A Sullivan’s Marketplace in Oxford Commons would add another daily-use retail anchor in one of the city’s busiest growth corridors and could pull more routine shopping activity into the north side of town. That could mean fewer trips to other parts of Oxford for groceries, more foot traffic for nearby commercial parcels, and additional pressure on Ed Perry Boulevard, Sisk Avenue and Commonwealth Boulevard as the area fills in around the site.

The project has already moved through Oxford’s planning process before. In September 2024, the Planning Commission approved a 35,000-square-foot Sullivan’s Marketplace in Colonnade Crossing off Highway 30, granting a special exception for a grocery store larger than the district’s 25,000-square-foot limit along with variances for a build-to-line requirement and an integrated teller machine. At the time, city staff said the store would help meet food-access needs in Oxford’s growing northern area.

Sullivan’s Marketplace, founded by the Sullivan family in 2005 in Newhebron, Mississippi, has been described as a grocer with a fresh produce section and a butcher station. The latest plat action does not put a store on the ground yet, but it removes one of the major technical barriers and shows the project is still advancing through Oxford’s development system. The Planning Department says all development in the city must be approved before it can proceed, and the commission meets on the second Monday of the month at 5:00 p.m.