Tuesday, May 10, 2016

365 by Whole Foods Market and Hundreds of Apartments Planned For New Decatur Project

New center coming to Decatur 

S.J. Collins Enterprises, a Fairburn, Georgia-based real estate development firm, recently confirmed that a  365 by Whole Foods Market will anchor their new project in Decatur.  The 365 stores will offer more affordable options and are meant to penetrate markets that a flagship Whole Foods Market might have had difficulty doing.  Located at the corner of North Decatur Road and Church Street, "North Decatur Square" will rise on a large parcel where Nalley Automotive Group currently has a few dealerships.  

Nalley will move both its Nissan and Infiniti dealerships to a portion of the old GM plant in Doraville where they expect to open by February or March of next year according to a Nalley spokesperson.  

According to Jeff Garrison, a partner at S.J. Collins, the project will total "+/- 18 acres" and will include both additional retail and restaurant space as well as apartment units.

Research indicates the 365 by Whole Foods Market store will be 35,000 square feet, making it one of the largest stores thus far announced for the would-be chain.  

While a lease with Whole Foods was already confirmed, this past Friday, the Decide DeKalb Development Authority unanimously approved $1.8 million in tax incentives for the project.  The tax incentives give S.J. Collins a break on property taxes during the next 10 years. During that time, the project is expected to generate nearly $9 million in tax revenue for the county and local governments.

The Shopping Center Group, headquartered in Atlanta, is handling the leasing for the project.  According to their leasing materials, the "site will feature a 4-story apartment building housing 450 residents which will augment existing apartment stock of over 1000 units within ¼ mile radius."

The marketing materials for the center also indicate it will provide a total of 449 parking spaces, or 5.01 per 1000 square feet.  

The center will also feature just over 54,000 square feet of additional shop space including three restaurant end-cap spaces with patios.  

Garrison hopes to land a variety of dining options for the center, anything from sit-down and chef-driven restaurants to fast-casual concepts.   

Here's to hoping that tenants like "xyz nail salon" and "national mattress retailers" are not offered space in the center.  

Construction is expected to begin in January, with stores scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2018.

S.J. Collins plans to have its Chamblee Whole Foods anchored project open long before the start of its Decatur project.  Expected to open next summer, Peachtree Crossing, located at the corner of Johnson Ferry Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, is located on the cusp of Chamblee / Brookhaven, but officially within the City of Chamblee.   Just as in Decatur, the developer was granted nearly $10 million in tax incentives according to my friends at The Brookhaven Post. The center will be anchored by a 45,000 square foot Whole Foods Market as well as nearly 60,000 square feet in additional shop space.  Among the restaurants already committed are Zoës Kitchen, YEAH! BURGER, Taqueria del Sol, Octane Coffee, Chipotle Mexican Grill and a new concept by Sushi One owners: Tokyo Belly.  It's entirely possible the Decatur project could include some of these same concepts.  

In addition to the Chamblee and Decatur stores, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market has stores in development in both Kennesaw and Midtown.  The 45,000 square foot Kennesaw store, located in Fuqua Development's Kennesaw Marketplace at the corner of Cobb and Barrett Parkways, is expected to open late this fall.  The 70,000 square foot "flagship" Midtown store will occupy multiple levels in a new nearly 400 unit apartment high rise coming to the intersection of 14th, West Peachtree and Spring Streets.  

Are you excited for the upcoming 365 by Whole Foods Market planned for Decatur?  Do you think the area needs / can handle another 450 apartments?  Do you think its appropriate that developers like S.J. Collin be provided so much in tax incentives?  

Please share your thoughts below.    

6 comments:

ImAndy said...

Interesting the Infiniti dealership in Doraville was originally a market expansion not relocation and the Nissan was a relocation of the old Capitol City/Nalley Nissan on PIB and was not supposed to replace Decatur. Sounds like PR spin

Ham said...

Wow, all this development in this small area is going to change this community completely. I believe the redevelopment of the old Suburban Plaza was a good thing and way overdue, but all these new apartments? I wonder what traffic on Scott Boulevard or North Decatur will be like. While Decatur continues to be a desirable address the question is do they drop rents to fill all these apartments? If so do we see fewer young hipsters and more low income families? What percentage of these apartments will be Section 8.

Anonymous said...

Traffic over there is already a mess! Why not do something with all that land at North Dekalb Mall? They can use the upgrades!

Anonymous said...

Pretty excited for this especially if we can avoid nail salons and mattress stores as mentioned. Also agree with previous post regarding N Dekalb Mall.

Anonymous said...

1,000 units in a quarter mile radius? I had no idea there was such a serious apartment shortage here. 365 Whole Foods is going to compete with Dekalb Farmers' Market? Good luck to them. Apart from heavy traffic, I wonder what the long term impact of all the development will be on the adjacent residential neighborhoods.

Another Anonymous said...

ImAndy- Actually there was never a market expansion for Infiniti. The plans for the Nissan and Infiniti dealerships were not decided until Nalley purchased the one on PIB and were able to put their money behind the project. The Brookhaven/Dunwoody market is under served and and The Decatur market does not support the local dealerships enough to justify the investment to bring the buildings up to modern standards. This is why the Ellis' saw the light 15 years ago and moved Atlanta Classic Cars to Duluth, Banner moved to Hwy 28, Southern L/M closed, Troncalli just about gave the dealerships to Nalley and moved to Cumming, etc. etc.

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