Alpharetta Happenings and Developments

North American Wins Approval for $600M Mixed-Use in Alpharetta

Scott French — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:58:40 +0000

Reprint from – National Real Estate Investor Newsline:

By Bendix Anderson, Contributing Writer

North American Properties (NAP) won the go-ahead April 24 from the town council in Alpharetta, Ga. to build hundreds of apartments and a million sq. ft. of retail and office space at Avalon, a $600 million mixed-use development planned to open its first phase October 2013.

It almost seems like old times as investors and developers like NAP place bets on commercial real estate—with a focus on properties that will mix new multifamily construction with other uses.
“There’s nothing like Avalon currently in the Southeast,” says Mark Toro, Managing Partner at NAP, headquartered in Cincinnati. He promises “a place where high-end retail, restaurant, residential, office, hotel and public spaces come together to create a truly unique destination.”

New Senior Living Community Breaking Ground on North Main Street in Alpharetta, Georgia

Scott French — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:23:46 +0000

Alpharetta, GA- (April, 25 2012) – An elegant senior living community is coming soon to Alpharetta, Georgia. Benton House of Alpharetta is being built at 762 N. Main Street and the project recently broke ground. David Winters, one of the lead partners, says the community will have forty-seven assisted living apartments including an exclusive memory care neighborhood for aging in place options.

Winters says “Benton House of Alpharetta will offer a full array of helpful services including medication assistance, five opportunities for residents to dine daily, housekeeping and dignified personal assistance if needed. Residents will bring their own furnishings and keepsakes so the apartments can truly be their own. They will receive emergency pendants and apartments will have built in alert cords so help is just a call away if needed.”

The assisted living community will host many special events and information sessions for seniors and their families as the construction on 762 N. Main Street progresses. For more information on the Benton House of Alpharetta senior living community families may call 678-297-0388 or visit http://www.bentonhouse.com.

Scott French of Powell Property Group was the lead broker negotiating the transaction between the seller, bank and purchaser.

About Benton House of Alpharetta

Benton House of Alpharetta is a branch of the Alpharetta based company Principal Senior Living Group. Valuing choice and dignity, Principal Senior Living Group has been serving seniors since 1997. Partners Dave Winters and Kyle Diekmann have over 50 years combined experience developing and managing senior living communities. Please visit http://www.bentonhouse.com for a full list of locations and services.

An Interesting Alpharetta Planning Commission meeting

Scott French — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:37:25 +0000

There were two interesting items presented at the Planning Commission meeting last night.

The first item; a movie theater is going to take over the old Parisian big box space at North Point Mall which has been empty since 2007 (!). That is cool! They are converting it from two stories to one to make room for a 12 screen theater. First run movies they say. I was kinda disappointed to hear there would be no entrance directly into the mall though. It was said due to security reasons, they prefer one point of access and that one point will actually be right outside a mall door I think. That is not too bad. They will also reconfigure the parking lot a bit to have a drop off lane. I don’t think they said when it would be open. I will get that info at the Council meeting coming up in a couple of weeks.

The second item is the revisit of Goodwill for a store location in Alpharetta. The site they are looking at is on North Main Street right across from Campbell Tire. Now, I should state that the applicant (property owner) emphatically denies that “Goodwill” is who he is trying to get there. I do not believe him at all. I was there when Goodwill tried to get approval for the Cogburn location in 2008 and I know what their deal looks like.

My take is this… horrible idea. Not a good location for many reasons. The community will fight that tooth and nail. He should pull it off the table right away and not waste his time and money.

The 6+ acres site is already zoned C2 which means he can build a 40,000sf strip center there now if he likes with no further approvals needed. It would be hard to say a strip center would be better than a thrift store, but at least the structure of the businesses would be much different and more “community friendly” I guess. One thing the residents around there should realize (they may already) is the fact that retail is not doing anywhere near what it needs to be for any developer to go spend money to build another strip center. That would be very foolish even if he COULD get funding for it. What lender in their right mind would fund construction for a strip center in this economy unless it is completely pre-leased? And believe me, I know THAT is not going to happen either. Especially not in that location.

My bet… It will stay a green space for quite a while longer like it is right now.

The Council meeting on 2/27 should be an “entertainment value”.

By the way… the Planning Commission voted to approve the theater and denied the “thrift store”.

Henderson Commons is ready to go!

Scott French — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:24:19 +0000

It is now late January 2012 and the holiday slowdown in commercial real estate is past. HeCo has new owners and they are ready for tenants now. The refreshing part is these owners are very well capitalized which means construction funding will not be an issue.
I have received more calls from tenant prospects this month than I have in the last two years combined! Once I get get leases signed, I will post updates on who is coming in. Right now, if anyone has interest in leasing space, they should call soon so they can get in a good position. The best locations in the center will always go first, even though there really is not a bad location.
Plus, as the place fills up, the rates will go up. The best time is NOW!

www.hendersoncommons.com

There are also exciting things happening across the street. Check back often for more news as soon as I am able to release it.

Changes in Alpharetta Retail Space

Scott French — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 15:07:32 +0000

The good news is that Henderson Commons, the retail strip center on Highway 9 just south of Windward has been purchased. After THREE YEARS of nothingness because of bankruptcy, foreclosure and a bank sitting on their hands, an investment group has purchased the property. Now they are trying to figure out what to do with it. They may sell it to the next investor group or they may keep it and lease it up. It may still take a few more months for all that to shake out. In the meantime, I believe they are going to see that the property is better maintained.

I am still getting calls for interested tenants. That is a good thing. There is still positive activity in the market. Another good thing (actually a really good thing) is the fact that the cost basis for the new owners is reduced significantly from what the original owners had in it. That means the rent can be much lower and the new owners can actually make money on it. That is a win for everyone!

There are NO other retail centers that have that favorable position in Alpharetta that I know of. The small one next to the entrance of Lowes may get there, but it is still facing all the legal issues of cleaning up the title after foreclosure. Who knows how long that will take.

The Office Market has Bottomed Out!

Scott French — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:45:17 +0000

Have you locked in your rates for the long term?
Now is the time to make sure to lock in your office rental rates for the long term. Office rental rates have dropped as much as 30% over the past few years in many markets; they are not going to go lower. Most experts in the field expect rates to start their upward climb this year. Now is the time to lock in your best rates. Landlords are still eager to make deals. Let us help. Our service is FREE.

Scott French
Powell Property Group
Commercial Real Estate Services
678-372-3798
Scottfrench@me.com

Home Fashion Center purchases property for Relocation

Scott French — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:51:42 +0000

Friday April 2nd, Home Fashion Center, currently located on South Main Street behind Bank of America, completed the purchase of the Georgia Turf and Tractor property on North Main Street. The new property, which is just south of Windward Parkway will begin a complete makeover almost immediately. The renovations are expected to take less than six months so they can have a grand re-opening before the fall selling season. You may expect to see some inventory reduction sales to keep from having to move all that stuff. Have you been in the store lately? They have definitely outgrown the old place. Home Fashion Center has been in their current location for more than 20 years.

RJD Architect of Alpharetta did a wonderful job on the redesign shown here and I am supposed to say that their work is copyrighted.

There will be some additional retail space available in the new building which will be leased to complimentary businesses. Contact me for further info at 678-372-3798.

Home Fashion Center was represented by S.T. French for the purchase of this property.

Please visit their web site HERE, the old location at 230 South Main Street or call 770-664-9544 for more info.

Scott French

Commercial Real Estate Services

www.alphaCRE.com

UC Fitness relocation

Scott French — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:11:37 +0000

UC Fitness
On Thursday, Feb. 4, UC Fitness opened a new training facility in Milton’s Watercrest Village shopping center on North Main Street.

The business is home to five fitness experts who operate under a single roof, each as their own operation and serving their own clientele.

“From the City of Milton’s top-tier community development team, to the city’s enthusiastic local business owners and the dynamic team at the North Fulton Chamber, I’ve been received warmly as a new business owner,” said Toby Eddison, owner of Next Level in Fitness Training and a member of the UC fitness team.

UC Fitness prior location was in the building behind the Corner Deli at Milton Ave and Roswell St.

Legoland may be coming to Alpharetta

Scott French — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:20:30 +0000

Legoland’s United Kingdom-based parent company, You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

" src="https://i1.wp.com/images.bizjournals.com/email/cwatch/w.gif" alt="" width="13" height="13" />Merlin Entertainments Group, is looking at sites in Alpharetta near North Point Mall, Atlantic Station in Midtown, the downtown area, and the Buckhead area near Phipps Plaza, said Howard Samuels, national real estate adviser for Legoland and president of Samuels & Co. Inc. in Los Angeles.

Merlin “is very interested in opening a Legoland Discovery Center in the Atlanta market,” he said. “We’re very fortunate there are several sites that will work.”

Samuels hopes to select a site in Atlanta by the end of the year.

Inside a 30,000- to 35,000-square-foot Legoland Discovery Center, which is about the size of a newer You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

" src="https://i1.wp.com/images.bizjournals.com/email/cwatch/w.gif" alt="" width="13" height="13" />Best Buy store, is a 4-D movie theater, a play area, a Dragon Castle Ride, a Build and Test area, and other interactive stations, all built with and around the iconic plastic bricks invented by a Danish company.

Read more in the Atlanta Business Chronicle article HERE

Yes, Henderson Commons is a ghost town.

Scott French — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:05:23 +0000

It does look nice...

On highway 9 North, just South of Windward Parkway sits a very nice looking, empty shopping center. The grass is grown up and the geese are the only occupants. And I do not know when that is going to change. I have been the leasing agent for HeCo for over a year. There have been quite a few people interested in opening for business there, but problems have been more plentiful. It started when one of the two owners ran into deep trouble last fall. Then they declared bankruptcy in December. The other owner and I became good friends while we shared in the struggles for the following months. Then, very sadly, cancer got the best of him and he passed away in August. I am trying my best to stay involved and keep some interest alive, however I am only the leasing guy and can only do so much.

If there is anyone that would like to be included in a “press release” list, please drop me a line. Something is going to happen eventually. It will have to. And when it does, there may be some very good opportunities to be taken advantage of.

Scott