Is Stonecrest coming back

[CoogHawk]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

That is an excellent point that the trend of more young professionals moving into urban core areas signaling that long decline of the inner cities has ended does not necessarily mean that the suburbs are declining.

And as you noted before, the suburbs are still growing very fast, including in and around a faster-growing large major Sun Belt metropolitan area like Atlanta.

But just as the suburbs are continuing to grow at a high rate, the suburbs around many major cities are also diversifying at a high rate, including socioeconomically.

Legendary North Atlanta suburbs like Cobb and Gwinnett have seen their poverty rates grow substantially with the continued growth and diversification of those areas.

Cobb County's poverty rate rose from 5.64% in 1990 to at least 9.1% in 2018, while Gwinnett County's poverty rate rose from 3.98% in 1990 to at least 9.2% in 2018.

(… Some parts of Cobb County (like the Marietta 30008 zip code) appear to have poverty rates as high as 24%, while some parts of Gwinnett County (like the Norcross 30093 zip code) appear to have poverty rates as high as 23.4%.)

Meanwhile, the area around Stonecrest Mall also seems to have experienced a steep rise in the rates of people living in poverty over the last 2-3 decades.

Nearby Rockdale County (which is located only about a mile or so east of the Stonecrest Mall area, and where the Stonecrest Mall area pulls much of its customer base from) has seen its poverty rate more than double from 6.15% in 1990 to 13.2% in 2018.

DeKalb County (where Stonecrest Mall is located) has seen its poverty rate rise from 9.87% in 1990 to 14.3% in 2018. While the City of Stonecrest itself has a poverty rate of 18.6%, and parts of the Lithonia 30058 zip code (which borders the Stonecrest Mall retail district immediately to the north) has areas where the poverty rates appear to reach as high as 36% in 2017.

The apparent sharp increase in the number of people living in poverty in a suburban area like Stonecrest/Lithonia/South DeKalb County/Rockdale appears to be one of the major factors in the unfortunate continuing decline of a shopping development like Stonecrest Mall and its adjacent retail district.

Well to your point, there has been a marked increase in poverty rates in the suburbs throughout the entire US, a trend that began in the early 2000’s and has accelerated since.

Much of it is due to declining housing options in the inner city urban areas as well as a decrease in job opportunities in the suburban areas. People are caught in a conundrum: live far away from the jobs so that they can afford housing or live close to work and figure out the housing situation. This is one of the main reasons there has been an increased focus in public transportation, so that people can get to job centers.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by CoogHawk

Well to your point, there has been a marked increase in poverty rates in the suburbs throughout the entire US, a trend that began in the early 2000’s and has accelerated since.

Much of it is due to declining housing options in the inner city urban areas as well as a decrease in job opportunities in the suburban areas. People are caught in a conundrum: live far away from the jobs so that they can afford housing or live close to work and figure out the housing situation. This is one of the main reasons there has been an increased focus in public transportation, so that people can get to job centers.

Exactly. It irritates me to no end when people absent mindedly comment that everyone needs to live close to work when it is indeed impractical for the mass majority of citizens to live close to a employment hub, and not just in the Atlanta metro but pretty much anywhere. This is why mass-transit expansion is EVER so important today.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by CoogHawk

Well to your point, there has been a marked increase in poverty rates in the suburbs throughout the entire US, a trend that began in the early 2000’s and has accelerated since.

Much of it is due to declining housing options in the inner city urban areas as well as a decrease in job opportunities in the suburban areas. People are caught in a conundrum: live far away from the jobs so that they can afford housing or live close to work and figure out the housing situation. This is one of the main reasons there has been an increased focus in public transportation, so that people can get to job centers.

Those are excellent points about the marked increase in poverty rates in the suburbs throughout the entire U.S. and about the declining options in inner-city urban areas.

Though, in the case of the Atlanta metropolitan area/region, much of the evidence appears to be that the availability of jobs in the suburbs (which officially is everything outside of the corporate limits of the City of Atlanta proper) seems to be fairly robust and continuing to increase.

In the case of the suburban area in which Stonecrest Mall is located (which is in the I-20 corridor of East metro suburban Atlanta that includes south DeKalb, Rockdale and Newton counties), there appears to be an abundance of jobs, particularly in light industrial businesses (logistics, trucking, warehousing, light manufacturing, etc.) that dominate the cluster of commercial development that lies along the I-20 East corridor in south DeKalb, Rockdale and Newton counties.

The challenge for an area like Stonecrest Mall is that many of the highest-paying white-collar jobs (in tech, law, etc.) in a large major metropolitan area like Atlanta have been attracted (and are continuing to be attracted, along with residents in those highest-paying white-collar jobs) at the highest rates to a few select urban and suburban business districts and job centers in the 'favored quarter' of the metro (Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Emory University, Perimeter Center, Cumberland, Alpharetta), while much of the rest of the metro area outside of the 'favored quarter' (including an area like Stonecrest and the I-20 East metro Atlanta corridor) increasingly largely attracts and depends heavily upon blue-collar light industrial employment... Blue-collar light industrial employment which may not necessarily always pay as much as the white-collar jobs in the aforementioned 'favored quarter' of a large major metro area/region like Atlanta.

[LynnHarris1]

New department store opens near Mall at Stonecrest

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/new-d...oO1y8G403YLMK/

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by LynnHarris1

New department store opens near Mall at Stonecrest

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/new-d...oO1y8G403YLMK/

This is a very welcome bit of good news.

I know that Shoppers World is far from being the type of upscale retailer that many (if not most) people might covet.

But for a Stonecrest Mall area that has experienced multiple major retail losses over the last several years (including Target, Sears, Kohls, Sam's Club, Best Buy, Toys-R-Us, Babies-R-Us, Big Lots and H.H.Gregg), any retail opening (even of a seemingly modest retailer like Shoppers World) is a positive development and a welcome change up.

[Born 2 Roll]

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The new Black Wall Street Market in South DeKalb County is set to open on Oct. 30.

The marketplace is the first of its kind for the City of Stonecrest and is a nod to the original Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma...

... Hampton said the New Black Wall Street Market aims to change the way people access and showcase Black-owned businesses.

The (125,000 square-foot) space is designed to look like a downtown shopping area and features everything from a grocery store and retail to art galleries and restaurants.

Black Wall Street Market opening in DeKalb County (WSB-TV Atlanta)

[Born 2 Roll]

Earlier this month, Jason Lary, Stonecrest’s first-ever mayor, resigned from his position and pled guilty to fraud charges. Lary, who is expected to be sentenced in May, faces up to 35 years in prison.

On Tuesday’s edition of “Closer Look,” Janice Allen Jackson, the acting city manager for Stonecrest and chief operating officer of city government, talked with program host Rose Scott about what’s next for the city and how its leaders are working to rebuild trust with residents through transparency.

What's next for Stonecrest after mayor's resignation amid fraud scandal (WABE Atlanta) (AUDIO report)

[Born 2 Roll]

STONECREST, GA— Stonecrest Resorts, a commercial real estate development company, tonight (March 10) announced Phase 2 plans to turn the former Sears building located in The Mall at Stonecrest into a family entertainment and lifestyle destination.

The $17 million adaptive reuse project will be called Priví and feature a food hall with several entertainment concepts on the upper level and a health and wellness center, an event facility, and a full-service co-working space designed for creative industry professionals on the lower level.

Financing for the second phase of the project was settled last week with pre-development already underway. The project’s first phase of development was the opening of SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium in November 2021.

Stonecrest Resorts announces plans for $17 million family entertainment complex at The Mall at Stonecrest
- The Mall at Stonecrest to launch Privi, upscale family entertainment (On Common Ground News)

[LynnHarris1]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Stonecrest Resorts announces plans for $17 million family entertainment complex at The Mall at Stonecrest
- The Mall at Stonecrest to launch Privi, upscale family entertainment (On Common Ground News)

Love this...