Phipps plaza, Lenox mall, streets of buckhead, midtown mile (Atlanta: condo, neighborhoods)

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by jsimms3

Well SOB (Streets of Buckhead) is actually a compilation of designs. For the most part it is being built all at once, but there are many different architects that have come up with a new design for each building. I have seen the plans and the renderings, and know one of the developing partners. You will be impressed, trust me! As for midtown mile, I live in midtown. I of course am most excited for this one. However, it is not going to happen any time soon. The stores going in 1010 are your typical nail salon, laundry, etc, a couple chains, nothing special. Universal gear is just another higher end store in the base of metropolis closing. The reason why? Lack of sales and large scale thefts. Sadly but truly there is more crime here which is a major deterrent, and not coincidentally many NOLA hurricane victims this year were the culprits. Right now the only services that are keeping midtown "en vogue" are the new trendy hotels with two more about to open up, and their restaurants. But let's keep our fingers crossed for the new president to bring us out of this mess and get the economy rolling again, because you see, after the last boom all the developers bought all the parcels and closed such favorites such as Jocks and Jills sports bar, etc. So now we have properties waiting for the next boom.

Where do you get the idea that 1010 retail will include nail salons and the like?

[BringBackCobain]

SOB will bring Atlanta to a new level in terms of competing with other international cities. The stores locating in SOB are only in cities like Paris, NYC, L.A. It is really great for the city. Maybe celebrities (not rappers) will go to Buckhead if they have to be in atlanta for some reason. We will know the city has changed if we see Lindsay Lohan or Julia Roberts shopping in Buckhead.

Midtown Mile is also great. It will put more pressure for Downtown to develop as it keeps getting better.

The only thing Atlanta is lacking is a 24 hour, vibrant, safe, clean downtown. I think its coming though (even though they have been saying this for decades). GSU is moving in from the east, Castleberry Hill from the SOuthwest, Centennial Park from the west, Midtown from the North. Downtown HAS to become hot soon. the only area standing in the way is... sigh, five points. If we could only give 5 points to GSU.

[GF72]

The only way to revitalize downtown is the revitalize the areas south of downtown.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

Where do you get the idea that 1010 retail will include nail salons and the like?

Well, a girl gotta get her nails did...

[jsimms3]

J2rescue, I just hear things through the grapevine. Ri RA Irish pub, RA sushi, Piola, and Noon Midtown for the cypress side, and of course the BoA branch they took out to build the thing. For Peachtree: one little video showed an Ann Taylor. I just scoured my sites that i check out on a daily basis for where I heard this, but tis what I heard. However, in light of that, I have heard that the Ritz Carlton midtown is looking to start nearby as part of a development on the midtown mile (where Jocks and Jills was), but that will not start for a while. I have also heard Intercontinental Midtown is looking at phase 3 of the Midtown projects (1010 being phase 1, 12th and Midtown being phase 2, and so on). Dewberry is waiting to see how this next phase goes, which as we all know will feature the Loews Atlanta hotel. Saks has been rumored to be looking at the next phase or the one following for a store, however, if a store such as universal gear cannot survive in the area, then I highly doubt Saks is even looking. There are still a lot of rumors and many delayed and failed projects. Until we see a better economy, do not expect the high end stores we were all looking for. Besides, I appreciate these more useful and cheaper stores right now over a store I would just be looking in.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by GF72

The only way to revitalize downtown is the revitalize the areas south of downtown.

Which areas are you talking about - south of Downtown or south Downtown? The Railroad District/South Central Business District is to the east of Castleberry Hill and south of Five Points and includes most of the goverment buildings like the capitol, city hall, county offices, federal, state, county and city courts, the GDOT and other state agencies, and the Russell, Nunn, and MLK federal buildings. It also includes the South-Central Peachtree Street retail area and other retail/restaurant clusters throughout the district. The 20 blocks in this area were just added to the Downtown Atlanta Improvement District in 2007, which has infused a lot of interest in the area and some major proposals for buildings like Norfolk Southern and Bank of America.

South of Downtown I guess would be West End, which has been seeing a lot of revitalization, and the Turner Field area.

[BringBackCobain]

South Downtown (i.e. the Government District) is pretty bleak right now. I drove around there recently and it was pretty blighted. GF72, dont you think that development in Midtown will spill southward into downtown?

The Turner Field area (Summerhill, Pittsburgh) and the Vine City areas are also very distressed. It will take decades for those to improve.

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by jsimms3

J2rescue, I just hear things through the grapevine. Ri RA Irish pub, RA sushi, Piola, and Noon Midtown for the cypress side, and of course the BoA branch they took out to build the thing. For Peachtree: one little video showed an Ann Taylor. I just scoured my sites that i check out on a daily basis for where I heard this, but tis what I heard. However, in light of that, I have heard that the Ritz Carlton midtown is looking to start nearby as part of a development on the midtown mile (where Jocks and Jills was), but that will not start for a while. I have also heard Intercontinental Midtown is looking at phase 3 of the Midtown projects (1010 being phase 1, 12th and Midtown being phase 2, and so on). Dewberry is waiting to see how this next phase goes, which as we all know will feature the Loews Atlanta hotel. Saks has been rumored to be looking at the next phase or the one following for a store, however, if a store such as universal gear cannot survive in the area, then I highly doubt Saks is even looking. There are still a lot of rumors and many delayed and failed projects. Until we see a better economy, do not expect the high end stores we were all looking for. Besides, I appreciate these more useful and cheaper stores right now over a store I would just be looking in.

I'm glad you realize that those are just rumors. It might take a while and an economic recovery before we see major retailers locating on Peachtree but it will happen. Midtown and "intown" are statistically underserved by retail and the demographics are attractive for retailers.

On the closing of Universal Gear, there is a reason that retailers locate in malls which is that they require a critical mass of similar type retail to drive traffic no matter what the price point. That place did survive for several years though.

I also think that Midtown retail will, at least in the beginning, be more along the lines of much of Lenox Mall which is "upscale" but not necessarly all that high end (Diesel, Apple, Zara, Macy's etc). It will continue to evolve as Midtown grows, which is how most urban shopping districts come about, and will eventually include some higher end stores. But the point of pursuing "upscale" retail for Midtown was to have something distinct from every mall in metro Atlanta, not necessarily to have everything be super high end.

The bottom line is that a street-level shopping district is a very difficult undertaking to just start from scratch even in good times and it will certainly take some time for that vision to become reality.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

South Downtown (i.e. the Government District) is pretty bleak right now. I drove around there recently and it was pretty blighted. GF72, dont you think that development in Midtown will spill southward into downtown?

The Turner Field area (Summerhill, Pittsburgh) and the Vine City areas are also very distressed. It will take decades for those to improve.

I've always thought the south Downtown area was actually in pretty good shape. The government buildings are adequately maintained and the retail corridor, despite being one of the oldest areas of Downtown, stays busy and occupancy is high. I haven't noticed any blight in the area, but there are still too many parking lots scattered around it and too many of the old historic buildings are empty...but I would label the area as "bleak". It's a fairly busy area with a good number of pedestrians on the streets - the government buildings will continue to guarantee that.

The areas directly around Turner Field are mostly parking lots, but there is a lot of recently built residential in those areas. I drove through last week (lost trying to get around the connector traffic standstill) and I did see one blighted area - Georgia Ave was lined with empty and delapidated old buildings just east of the stadium. That was the only distressed area I ran across...the residential throughout looked nice.

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

South Downtown (i.e. the Government District) is pretty bleak right now. I drove around there recently and it was pretty blighted. GF72, dont you think that development in Midtown will spill southward into downtown?

The Turner Field area (Summerhill, Pittsburgh) and the Vine City areas are also very distressed. It will take decades for those to improve.

Downtown is already revitalizing and its coming from the residential neighborhoods, Centennial Park and GSU. Just since 2000, 8,000 housing units have been built, 5,000 new households have moved in, median income is up 48%, and several hotels and attractions have been built. This year alone 30 new restaurants have opened Downtown.