Johns Creek Walk Means It: Live There and You Can Walk to Dinner
categories: Buyers, Crabapple, Johns Creek Real Estate, New Construction
When was the last time that you walked to get ice cream after dinner at home? When was the last time that you walked home from the bar after happy hour on Friday evening?
If you answered “Absolutely Never”, I’d believe you.
Around Alpharetta and the other cities in North Fulton – and around most of suburbia for that matter – we drive everywhere, usually because we have to. We live in neighborhoods with one road in and one road out and the only way to the grocery story is via Chevrolet.
We are starting to get some options, though. “Mixed use” developments are all the rage and starting to make their way onto the North Fulton real estate scene. Let’s not kid ourselves: As quaint as the idea sounds we aren’t going to get rid of our cars anytime soon and all of a sudden start walking and biking everywhere as if this were Manhattan or someplace in Europe. However, the occasional walk to a restaurant or shop would certainly be a move in the right direction and one of the aspects of life that is lost when you move from “in town” to the suburbs, or as we say in Atlanta, “outside the Perimeter.”
One of the best new examples of mixed use is Johns Creek Walk at State Bridge and Highway 141 being developed by Atlantic Realty Partners. While of Phase 1 is still underway, the finished product will consist of a mixture of single family “Manor Homes”, townhomes, apartments and retail/restaurant space. There are also resident amenities that include a nice pool, a 24 hour lounge/cyber cafe, meeting space and an exercise room.
Single Family Homes and Townhomes
In Phase 1, there are seventeen single family lots and currently only one Manor Home available, while two others are under construction at the mid $600k price point. There are six unsold vacant lots still available.
Thirteen of the 44 townhomes are sold. These are Artisan and Craftsman style townhomes with sloping roof lines, stone and brick exteriors and shake accents.
Apartments
There are also 210 units of apartments, which is the first apartment development in the Johns Creek area in 10–12 years. Local residents resist apartment buildings because of “the clientele” they attract, but the fact is that a mature real estate market needs to offer housing solutions for all segments of the economy and with the completion of the new Emory Hospital in Johns Creek and all the peripheral medical offices that are developing, there is a greater need for apartments.
Retail Space
My favorite part of Johns Creek Walk is the combination of the retail space to the residential space, which puts the “mix” in mixed use. There are clothing, children’s and computer stores; framing and art shops, a small grocery, a real estate office and a couple restaurants and bars. The sports bar has a TV in each booth so you can watch exactly which game you are interested in. Plus, Johns Creek Walk is catty corner to Super H Mart where you could easy walk to the grocery to to get your dried octopus and some kim chee.
Best of all, there is a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream store which I can only hope stays open late for those end of day chocolate issues. Image how easy it would be for a man if he lived in Johns Creek Walk with his pregnant wife. He could walk around the corner to fulfill her ice cream craving and would be only one mile from the hospital when the moment of truth arrived.
From a retailer’s perspective, the greatest thing about the retail space is that there are apartments in the back of the retail shops. This can either be used as a “back office” or for a true apartment for someone who wanted to actually combine their work and residential space or for someone who lived further away but found it convenient to literally sleep over at the store during the week, for instance.
Crabapple
Elsewhere in North Fulton, Crabapple has a chance to become more mixed use. I’m hopeful, but cautiously optimistic. As part of the new Crabapple Crossing development, there is some retail planned, but nothing other than an Italian restaurant, a dry cleaners (like we need another one of those!) and a women’s fitness studio has opened. I’m waiting for the ice cream store…or better yet, a gelato store. Then, I’ll actually park my car and walk around, but until then I’m still just driving through.
Vickery
Just north of Alpharetta, in Cumming, is another good, new example of mixed use, the Vickery community that includes awesome parks, amenities, retail and even a YMCA. It also has gelato!
In Alpharetta, Prospect Park, which is under construction at Old Milton and GA-400 will be mixed use and the Roswell East development at Holcomb Bridge and GA-400, which is currently “in hibernation” was also proposed to be mixed use with a lot of actual office space included in the design.
Mixed use is clearly a development model that is here to stay and making headway in North Fulton. Developers see it as a way to build higher density, which is necessary given the higher land costs and lack of any remaining large parcels of land. Politicians like it because more new development means more tax base and mixed use potentially means less car trips. Anything to alleviate traffic is good for politicians and the public alike. I’d be curious to know what you think of mixed use. Would you prefer to live in a “traditional neighborhood” or do you like the idea of being to run out for Ben and Jerry’s without the car keys?
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I DO like the idea of being able to run to Ben and Jerry’s without the car keys, but…
I just wish that there didn’t have to be apartments too. Sounds snobby, I know (and it’s not like I never lived in an apartment), but there is that apprehension for what apartments may bring…
PS
My family is moving to Alpharetta next year and your blog has been a fantastic help!
This is what appeals to most “city dwellers” the ability to have “everything” within walking distance…now the suburbs are catching on. Roswell has Centennial Walk slated for production and it will be very similar to Johns Creek Walk. I always liked the idea of having an apartment community at a college built around a square that had a pool, bars, and a dog park…that’s all you need in college…and you could spare the risk of driving intoxicated! Cool stuff!
We bought a house a little over 3 years ago that is about 4-5 blocks from the Smyrna Market Village. It is wonderful to be able to walk up for dinner, events, and to not have to worry about driving after a few coctails.
Mixed use is great but has issues that come with it. Unless I were single and into the bar scene, I wouldn’t want to live any closer. A close friend of mine has a house that backs up to a restaurant near the Vinings Jubilee. She complains about the noise from their bar and live bands. She expected it would come with the territory but I don’t think she expected the sanitation truck to come at 3 a.m. to empty a dumpster of bottles or the valets using profanity loud enough that her 10 year old can hear from her room.
We want the Icecream truck to come into Chadbourne in Alpharetta Ga again