Archive for the 'Commercial Activity' Category
Natural Foods Warehouse to Open at Silos in Crabapple | Crabapple Mercantile Exchange Forges Forward
categories: Announcements, Commercial Activity, Crabapple
CRABAPPLE - Finally, news has escaped out about who will occupy the old Ingles space in Crabapple at The Silos. The AJC reported this week that Natural Foods Warehouse signed a letter of intent to lease 20,000 square feet and open shop by the end of the year.
As a person who eats as healthily as I can, I’m down with a natural foods alternative in Crabapple. I would only hope that I could get a quick, healthy lunch there, but probably not.
Other commercial / retail news in Crabapple includes the continued construction of The Crabapple Mercantile Exchange along Crabapple Road in "downtown" Crabapple. I know a lot of people can’t believe that construction is ongoing with the current real estate market and the amount of existing empty retain space.
However, Crabapple Mercantile can boast some pre-leases as Scoops (Ice Cream Shop), Zest (Restaurant) and The Founders Cigar Club.
I don’t know the scoop on Zest yet; but then I don’t know the zest on Scoop, either. I just know that my wife has been claiming for years that Crabapple needs a good ice cream store. Little does Scoops know that if they have good chocolate - or even Gelato - what a good customer my wife will be. I think she has a separate account just for ice cream money.
I’m not a smoker and my idea of a cigar was a sneaked puff on a Swisher Sweet sometime during adolescence, but I do know that there are already a bunch of cigar shops up and down Highway 9. Of course there are a bunch of ice cream shops too, albeit most of them are chains, and many other restaurants as well.
Time will tell, but I hope these shops can forge a unique offering and earn a loyal clientele.
When finished, Crabapple Mercantile will consist of six building comprising about 22,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 23,000 sq. ft. of office space and four residential condominiums. At about 1,200 sq. ft. per retail store, that means about 18 shops will ultimately call Crabapple Mercantile home, which is walking distance from neighborhoods such as Crabapple Chase, Westminster, Kensington Farms and Waterside - and of course from Crabapple Crossing and Crabapple Crossroads, which are immediately adjacent.
The developer is Lodestone Development who can be found in Alpharetta and who also built the Ellard Mercantile Exchange at Ellard on Holcomb Bridge Road, if you would like to view an example of their projects (pictured to the right). If I had to choose a development style for Crabapple, that would have been it to a "t": I’ll call it "historical elegance"
If they build it, though, and they are - then we have to support it. Well, we don’t have to, but it would be nice. The ice cream better be good! Forget the cigars.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently No Comments »
Vickery Foreclosure Presents New Opportunities in Forsyth County
categories: Buyers, Commercial Activity, Foreclosures, Forsyth, Luxury Homes
CUMMING - A lot of people - mostly notably those getting foreclosed on - might think that foreclosure is the worst thing that could happen. Actually, in this case, it might be the best.
It has been a while coming, but Wachovia finally started foreclosure proceedings against Hedgewood Properties and the Vickery development on Post Road.
This has been rumored for a while now as numerous other Hedgewood properties have recently been foreclosed upon, but the foreclosure on Vickery was finally made public yesterday with the legal notice in the Forsyth News .
The legal notice goes on for page after page; I’m not patient enough to count how many separate parcels are included in the action. However, the newspaper reported that nineteen parcels were included and upwards of $44 million. At Vickery, that includes both residential and commercial parcels as far as I understand it.
So what does this mean to current residents of Vickery and to people who might like to take advantage of this foreclosure opportunity to buy into Vickery?
I actually think that this is a good thing for current Vickery residents because for the recent past the real estate market has been frozen in Vickery: People couldn’t sell and people couldn’t buy. Why? Because most of the new construction has not been completed and the bank wouldn’t lend any more to complete it. If someone whated to purchase, they be purchasing a partially completed house and have to get a construction loan to do it.
Plus, I heard that even it the developer, Hedgewood, did sell a property, the bank wouldn’t let them keep any of the profit because of arrears on the loans, so there was really no incentive for Hedgewood to strike any deals.
On the commercial site - remember, Vickery is a mixed-use community with residential, commerical and the YMCA (which is unaffected by the way) - there have apparently been tenants wanting to sign leases, but they can’t get minor build out issues handled so they have not signed leases.
It is rumored that a new lender will step in and negotiate new financing before this foreclosure reaches the steps of the courthouse. I’ll tell you what, though: If it does reach the steps, you can meet my wife there because she has always wanted to live in Vickery!
A new lender who will sprinkle some money on Vickery to get the project unstuck would be the best outcome for current and future property owners. Vickery may have been a project ahead of its time in terms of just not having the critical mass of population to support the commercial, for instance. Wachovia and Hedgewood seem to be having to pay the price for that.
But Vickery is a great product (unique architecture, community concept, open spaces, narrow streets and alleys) and not something that is readily available in this geographic market. My expectation is that other people recognize this too and that someone buys it at a discount and takes it across the finish line.
For now, the foreclosure is a difficult patch for Vickery to get through, but that is what the market looks like from the bottom, today.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently 3 Comments »
Generica and the Appeal of Homes in Alpharetta and Milton
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Commercial Activity, Milton Real Estate
A reader left a comment recently that I’d like to respond to: The reader was bemoaning the amount of clear cutting going on in Alpharetta, calling out greedy developers and equating Alpharetta to the "New Jersey of the South."
I’d say that Alpharetta is more like New Jersey because of the number of people who have relocated here from "The North" than because it physically looks like New Jersey - and I’m told there are some beautiful places in New Jersey… ;->
I’m not going to take the bait for the whole "greed is good" vs. "clear cutting is bad" religious battle here, but the reader did point out one interesting thing: He noted that commercial development continues despite the number "Space Available" signs he sees. In fact, today as I drove through Crabapple, I saw three commercial for rent signs, a going out of business sign and a "new office condos coming sign."
The reader’s observation led me to wonder just what the commercial vacancy rate is and how it is trending. Thanks to the City of Alpharetta’s Economic Development Office, I can report the following:
Alpharetta has about a 15% vacancy rate for Class A office space. This is down from about 30% in 2004. In 2001, Class A vacancy was as low as 12%.
Class B space is a different story in Alpharetta. Currently, the Class B vacancy rate is about 30%, but that number includes office condos, which the City only recently started including in that number.
The end of year numbers for the Atlanta Metro Area are not available yet, but Alpharetta expects to have the second or third lowest vacancy rates in the Atlanta area.
Bottom Line: People want to live in Alpharetta and the employment base of Atlanta is clearly moving north chasing the workforce. Office space along the GA-400 corridor is extremely desirable.
Regarding retail space, maybe this was the direction the comment was aimed. There is a 12% retail vacancy in Alpharetta. The City expects this to increase due to new projects being completed and many small retailers struggling.
I, too, wonder if we need any more "strip malls" … even the ones that are all dressed up with pretty facades. Just how many dry cleaners, tanning salons and franchises de jour do we need?
Indeed, it seems that the strip mall and the franchise combine to create the perfect suburban storm, that leaves an aftermath I refer to as "Generica". Heck, we could go to New Jersey for that, huh? I think that is the cord the comment meant to strike. I just don’t think the perpetrator is the "greedy developer."
The perpetrators are the retailers, the oil companies, the automobile manufacturers, the politicians at every level, the tax code, the people managing your 401(k), the unions, the truck drivers, the media companies…where do you want me to stop? … the realtors, the lawyers, the bankers?
Everyone has a finger in the pie. This is how a free market economy works where trees (and open space) have no votes and your clothes are never too clean to have one more dry cleaners to pass on the way home.
This also helps understand why Milton,, northwestern Alpharetta, northern Roswell and even the eastern parts of Cherokee County, are such treasured places to live. There is no commercial activity to speak of in Milton, although I suppose you could argue that raising cattle is a commercial activity.
Yes, there is now a "resort model" Publix at Birmingham Crossroads. But no way would you ever accuse Milton of being Generica. And this is why people defend the current status quo in Milton and resist commercialization with all their fiber.
Can Milton preserve its unique niche in the housing market? Can it prosper as an almost entirely residential city without the support of a commercial tax base? Frankly, I’d rather be Greenwich, Connecticut than anywhere in New Jersey, if you are drawing parallels to the North! But that is just me ;->
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently No Comments »
Ronald Reagan Parkway is Only Political Point on Super Tuesday
categories: Alpharetta Real Estate, Commercial Activity, Forsyth
ALPHARETTA and SOUTH FORSYTH - Trying to find something political to write about around here on Super Tuesday is surprisingly difficult. There are practically zero candidate yard signs out in Alpharetta; I’ve seen maybe one Romney and two Ron Paul signs on Highway 9. I did see a couple Obama signs when inside the perimeter the other day. Zero Hilary signs.
It seems that Georgia has either been conceded from the beginning or just ignore. Just as well. I’m tiring of the campaign already and we have ten more months to go.
In the spirit of politics and Super Tuesday, though, I thought I resurrect the memory of Ronald Reagan. You see, Reagan’s name has been given to a major new boulevard in south Forsyth County. Right now, Ronald Reagan Parkway is a few disconnected stretches of four-lane road near GA-400 and Highway 20 (Exit 14). However, the parkway is quickly being pieced together and promises to become a much needed alternative to GA-400 in Forsyth.
But here is the scoop: The Taubman Company is in the initial phases of a major, upscale shopping complex at McGinnis Ferry Road and Ronald Reagan Parkway. Wait! you say. Ronald Reagan and McGinnis Ferry don’t intersect…yet. The plan is for Ronald Reagan Parkway to run south from Highway 20 where is passes near the Northside Hospital, pass the new Forums developing at Hwy 141 (Exit 13) and continue south to McGinnis Ferry. The Taubman development would anchor 163 acres at the southern end of The Parkway and could have buildings as tall as 12 stories and 500 residential units.
The development is by no stretch a sure thing; it is my understanding that the county is still considering the zoning changes required. If anyone has more detail, please post a comment.
While the development would technically be in Forsyth County, it is important to Alpharettans because it might as well be in Alpharetta. McGinnis Ferry is the county line and this location would only be a stone’s throw from the exclusive Prospect Park development in Alpharetta, which is under construction on Old Milton. A Tabuman development would be another feather in North Fulton’s growing high end retail market.
Posted by Kevin Warmath | Currently No Comments »
