ATLANTA — Construction has begun on a new Krispy Kreme location on Ponce De Leon Avenue, according to the company on Tuesday.
The news comes nearly two years after the original shop there was set on fire and destroyed in 2021, according to authorities.
A second fire happened later that same year. Authorities said they believed that one started in the kitchen area and spread to part of the attic.
That original location was built more than 60 years ago. It was one of the first Krispy Kreme locations established outside the company's main bases of operation in Winston-Salem, N.C. and Nashville.
The Ponce de Leon store has long been a fixture in the fabric of Atlanta life - when thousands of mourners came to the city for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral in April 1968, the Krispy Kreme donated 150 dozen donuts to local churches who were trying to keep the people fed.
Basketball star Shaquille O'Neal bought the store back in 2016.
O'Neal is now helping to build the new location, which the company says is expected to open this summer.
"I told u me and @krispykreme would bounce back better than ever in Atlanta!," O'Neal wrote on his Instagram. "Can’t wait to turn on the Hot Light at our brand-new Ponce shop this summer."
New Ponce Krispy Kreme
