Wednesday, December 18, 2019

[ALERT] HUGE New Mixed Use Development Proposed to Replace Tin Roof Cantina, Cafe Bombay

A Miami real estate firm is proposing a huge redevelopment near the North Druid Hills Road Target.  Related Group has submitted plans to the City of Brookhaven to not only have the nearly seven acre property annexed into Brookhaven, but to also have it rezoned for several developments.  Related wants to replace Briarcliff Station, a dated shopping center home to popular Indian eatery Cafe Bombay among others, Tin Roof Cantina, an auto care business and a former car wash, with  "Manor Druid Hills," which would bring several new residential and commercial uses to the property.

Planning documents submitted to Brookhaven indicate Related wants to develop a six-story, 382 unit apartment building, a seven-story, 140 room hotel, 25,000 square feet of office space, and a combined 20,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space.  The project would also feature a seven-story 837 space parking deck and an additional 40 street level spaces spread throughout the project.

Related has not yet closed on the property and its interest in doing so likely hinges upon the annexation and rezoning requests being approved by the City of Brookhaven.  Planning documents indicate that the requests will be heard by the Planning Commission on February 5, and by the Mayor and City Council on February 25.  Related, or more likely their lawyers/proxy, will hold a "community meeting" on January 2 at 6:30 pm at the Hellenic Community Center adjacent to the Greek Orthodox Cathedral at 2500 Clairmont Road.
Rendering of the proposed apartment, office and hotel components

It's unclear if Related plans to make restaurant space available in their project for Cafe Bombay, Tin Roof or others, but the rents they would likely command will no doubt be far more expensive than current rates.  Cafe Bombay operates out of a second generation space at an endcap of Briarcliff Station, while Tin Roof, which not long ago completed a renovation, operates out of a freestanding building previously home to McDonald's and later a Miami Subs.  
The subject property in yellow 

DeKalb County property records indicate that the subject parcel, officially referred to as 2601 Briarcliff Road and situated between Briarcliff and North Druid Hills Roads along Woodcliff Drive, is owned by Scarlett & Associates, Inc.

Established 40 years ago, Related Group, helmed by founder and billionaire Jorge M. Perez, has built and managed more than 90,000 condominium and apartment projects across Florida.  The firm entered the Atlanta market in 2018 with the 39-story Icon Midtown, a luxury high-rise apartment building with a large format Whole Foods Market in the street level retail space.  After several delays, the firm also recently welcomed residents to their second local high-rise, Icon Buckhead, a 35-story project along Peachtree Road not far from Lenox Square. 

There is no doubt that the subject property has seen better days and could use either a significant face-lift or large scale redevelopment, but the density of development proposed for this project is overwhelming.  Situated within close proximity of Emory University, the CDC and the VA, traffic is already a huge concern for residents.  Add to this the fact that Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) is currently underway with a gigantic campus expansion at I-85 and North Druid Hills Road and Emory University's planned Executive Park healthcare campus, and you start to wonder how much development and additional traffic the area can handle. 


Not far from Briarcliff Station, Greater Atlanta Realty Group is marketing a 3.6 acre parcel behind Target for redevelopment, too.  The wooded property, located at 2661 Briarcliff Road, but with a narrow bit that extends out to North Druid Hills Road, is also owned by Scarlett & Associates, Inc., according to DeKalb records.  

Scarlett & Associates is also the listed owner of the Target outparcel along North Druid Hills currently home to both Sherwin-Williams and Firestone.  That 1.31 acre parcel is not currently linked to the proposed redevelopment, but there is speculation that it could eventually.  

ToNeTo Atlanta reported last November than Stein Investment Group, a locally owned real estate firm, purchased Williamsburg Village shopping center at the corner of Clairmont and Briarcliff Roads.  Williamsburg, like Briarcliff Station, is not currently meeting its fullest potential and will likely be redeveloped.  Stein, which is known for building self storage facilities has said they don't plan to make that business part of the redevelopment and have said they plan to keep Desta, a popular Ethiopian eatery, part of the project.  The Stein project is in unincorporated DeKalb County with sources close to the firm telling ToNeTo Atlanta last fall that Stein has no intention of seeking Brookhven annexation and instead supports the proposed City of Vista Grove, a new city within which the center would be located.  

About a mile separates the Stein and Related projects and given their potential impact on the quality of life of nearby residents, expect serious debates over the desired visions to ensue.  

What are your thoughts on the proposed Briarcliff redevelopment?  Do you think enough is being done to prepare for all the upcoming development?  If you are opposed to this redevelopment what would you like to see happen to the property instead?

Please share your thoughts below.  

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a bad feeling that this, if it goes through exactly as shown here (which feels doubtful, but let's just pretend for a moment), would be just as bougie as the redevelopment of the Toco Hill shopping center nearby. Yuck!

Anonymous said...

I would love to attend that community meeting just to see the fireworks from the residents of the most anti-development community in the metro area.

I grew up 2 blocks from there on Timothy (my parents still live there and complain about the traffic daily). They supported cityhood but said that people came knocking at their door all the time telling them about skyrocketing taxes that incorporation would bring (which is a complete myth).

I remember the McDonald's, as well as the adjacent Richway and grocery store that eventually become the Target that is there now. We used to walk or ride our bikes there in the summer. My first job was at the Chick-Fil-a at the corner right after it opened.

While I am as pro-development as they come and nearly always in favor of re-development of old run down centers, that plan is really ridiculous. The area is already dense enough so the nearly 400 unit apartment building is a joke. I'm sure they are just starting with that outrageous plan so when they scale back to something in this universe they can say "look at all the concessions we have made for the community!" I don't think they have any idea of the opposition they will face from that community though!

Anonymous said...

Please do some reading up. Density is not the cause of traffic. It is the SOLUTION when paired correctly with functional public transit.

Now, I realize that transit isn't there yet. The additional density will result in further demand.

What we should be doing is requiring LESS parking from these developments and instead require cooperation with transit infrastructure. Have them build separate ingress/egress for buses with a dedicated stop inside the development. If it can be built for future BRT line even better.

Please stop with the NIMBYism though. You're only making things worse over the long haul.

Richard Hanson said...

Those people that want to work at the new Emory or CHOA developments will have a place to live within walking distance. And not just those old apartments.

Anonymous said...

I thought Cafe Bombay closed years ago? Tin Roof is a good boozer.

RichKnobSales said...

Yep - those anti-cityhood folks ran around telling everyone how much more it would cost to live in a city, yet the cities have lower taxes and higher service deliveries.

Let's see those folks come around with that bill of goods again.

Anonymous said...

I can barely remember when the McD's was at the Tin roof site. And I definitely remember when it was a Miami Subs.

The street Woodcliff should be striped and signaled more prominently to carry more traffic about to head east on NDH.

The comment at 'December 18, 2019 at 12:03 PM' is interesting b/c I sort of follow the anti city group and they have always, and continue, to use a mixture of fabrications, lies, and absurd propaganda to wage the fight against self-rule in Dekalb.

Anonymous said...

6 and 7 story buildings? A large hotel? This is almost as ridiculous as cityhood for East Cobb.

Anonymous said...

While I agree that transit is the only way to make this tolerable, please do some reading up - people HATE riding the bus. We are way beyond having any type of effective rail transit in this area. Multi-city master transit plan? Dream on. This is a real nightmare. They should limit the project to two stories.

Anonymous said...

The properties in purple on that map are also requesting annexation into Brookhaven. Watch for more development plans if that goes through.

Cityhood Thief said...

DeKalb just published a report that DeKalb would lose $26 million/year if Vista Grove becomes a city. Brookhaven is snatching up everything on east side of 85. The cityhood folks of Greenhaven and Vista Grove are all "wanna be's" "never were's" notice there weren't any "has beens" as they are all losers trying to grab a city and profit off of it

Anonymous said...

I live in LaVista Park (which recently was annexed into Brookhaven). I am in favor of the redevelopment, but concerned about the density and, of course, traffic. There is already a lot of cut through traffic on Sheridan which runs right through the middle of LaVista Park. Without some additional measures taken to make this cut through traffic more difficult it is going to be a problem for our neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

The hotel does not bother me at all. The scale/density of the apartment complex does. If they would reduce the density of the residential portion and if some traffic controls were placed in the residential neighborhoods so as to make cut through routs very difficult that would help a lot.

Anonymous said...

"Snatching up" implies that somehow Brookhaven just came in and took some areas into their city limits over the objections of the owners/residents. I don't think that is what you meant.

LaVista Park (where I live) recently became part of Brookhaven. This was done because over 60% of the land owners and over 60% of the registered voters petitioned to become part of Brookhaven. Thus far the difference is services is amazing and all with no increase in taxes.

Unknown said...

Dream on Dream on.. first of all people want to get in their cars to
Go places ... and public transit will
Never be adequate here in Atlanta ... called piss poor planning ages ago.. and roads and highways here are antiquated for all the current and future growth....

john varga said...

there are currently 2 large complexes less than 2 years old on executive park, along with 1 "newish" complex. briarhill is old, but its also affordable housing. the giant emory/choa development plans include adding high end/unafordable complexes, as well. i realize a goal here is to squeeze out low class people like myself (phd in microbiology doing university research - poor life choices) but i think there's enough housing planned for the area.

Anonymous said...

Sheridan is not a "cut through". It is one of the very few east-west arteries in this area. A road with a double yellow line running it's whole length. A cut through would be something like taking Citadel through LaVista Park from Briarcliff to LaVista Road. You've already got speed bumps. What else do you want to reduce traffic, a security gate at both ends?

Anonymous said...

Gwinnett County actually does have some maximum parking statutes. But I don't think it has much to do with encouraging public transit, unless it is the county officials trying to shove that MARTA referendum down its residents' throats, even though residents have voted it down again and again and again.

Atlanta is just a driving city and there is no way to retrofit a light rail or other transit system at this point. It would go over like the downtown street car.

Stussey said...

Lately they just seem to want to throw mixed use anywhere and in some places where it doesn't make sense. That area sounds like Candler and Glenwood. For the longest time people that lived inside the perimeter complained they didn't want strip malls because it would turn the city into suburbia. But that's what these mixed use projects are, strip malls with apartments on top. They don't add anything to the communities they're in, architecture wise or business wise. Just look at Emory Point and Town Brookhaven.

Stussey said...

I'm all for public transportation and higher density, if it worked, but this is Atlanta. These developers are just throwing up, literally, mixed use projects in random places. There was the big ant-strip mall movement because people didn't want to live in suburbia. But all these new mixed use areas are nothing but strip malls with apartments on top. They're nothing pleasing to look at, they're all cookie cutter that try to court hip retail but rents are too high so you end up with the same boring chains that can afford it. They're planning on doing the same kind of development at Candler & Glenwood. Mixed use in a high traffic area that nobody will feel safe walking to and there won't be any retail worth driving to. In the end, it's just going to jack up rents in the area, add traffic and the only one that benefits is the developer.

Unknown said...

Transit is a great idea - can't wait for it to alleviate traffic in they year 2040 - when they are actually proposing to have expansion implemented.

Anonymous said...

Thank God its not a shitty fuqua development!!! He builds some really ugly developments!

fbenario said...

"Situated within close proximity of Emory University, the CDC and the VA,"

I don't think that works. This location is only kinda sorta nearish to the VA, and neither close nor in proximity to Emory U. or CDC.

Patrick said...

Not to mention the Lidl store coming soon to Brighton Park across the corner. That alone is likely to drive huge new traffic through the area. I for one can't wait for it. If it's even mostly like their other Atlanta stores, I might be there every day for the bakery alone.

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