PERIMETER BUSINESS
More mixed-use developments likely in the Perimeter
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
Starling said an area like Perime
ter Center, which is mostly built out,
lends itself to mixed-use development.
He said tastes have also changed
greatly over the past 30 to 40 years.
Large suburban developments or cor
porate office parks are just not the type
of environment large companies are
looking for anymore, Starling said.
"Employees don't want to work in
an office park that's segregated from
everything else. They want to be in a
more walkable place," Starling said.
"They're really moving here because
of the access to these amenities and,
again, that's being driven by their em
ployees."
The employees many businesses
are trying to attract - the young, edu
cated and tech-savvy - have different
priorities than their parents.
Jack Honderd, a Brookhaven-based
architect who specializes in transit-ori
ented development, said developers
are finding that young adults want to
live in urban areas with access to pub
lic transit and within walking distance
to stores and restaurants.
"Demographically, what they call
the millennials, people between about
18 and 35 have a much stronger pref
erence for living in these types of en
vironments than living out in the sub
urbs," Honderd said. "When you
have major changes like this, it's rarely
caused by people in their 40s and 50s
... it's a generational change."
Honderd said the concept of mixed-
use development is far from new,
however.
"When I was in school back in the
late 70s, it was already an important
part of urban studies and urban plan
ning," he said.
Historically, urban centers included
a variety of uses, such as shops, restau
rants, apartments and hotels. But over
time, zoning codes in many areas sep
arated land uses, designating some ar
eas as residential and others as strictly
commercial.
Over the past decade, there has
been a greater emphasis on reintegrat
ing development to encompass a vari
ety of uses. People are also focusing on
building dense developments around
transit stations to give people the op
tion to use public transportation or
walk to where they need to go, rather
than getting in a car and driving.
The Atlanta Regional Commis
sion's Livable Centers Initiative pro
gram awards planning grants to local
governments. Brookhaven was award
ed one of these grants, which led to the
overlay zoning district, which requires
new development around the MARTA
station to be more urban and pedestri
an friendly.
"The Atlanta Regional Commis
sion really started fostering these ideas
through their LCI studies program,"
Honderd said.
One of the bigger mixed-use devel
opments in the area is Town Brookhav
en on Peachtree Road.
The project was developed by The
Sembler Company, a company behind
several other mixed-use centers in the
metro Atlanta area,
including Perim
eter Place in Dun-
woody.
Steve Althoff,
Sembler's senior
vice president of
leasing and prop
erty management,
said the company
became interested
in mixed-use de
velopment about
10 years ago.
"If you're
building in an urban environment,
you need to build up. That lends it
self to retail, residential and office. All
of that can live together very well,"
Althoff said.
Althoff said Sembler has been
around for 50 years. For most of that
time, the company built traditional
suburban shopping centers, anchored
by supermarkets.
"We did that for 30 years and then
probably 12-13 years ago we start
ed evolving to build more Target-an
chored power centers in suburban
markets," Althoff said.
Althoff said over the past decade,
retailers such as
Target have want
ed to get back into
urban centers,
leading Sembler
to design mixed-
use projects.
Althoff said its
mixed-use devel
opments are more
complicated than
typical shopping
centers.
Building a typ
ical shopping cen
ter on an empty piece of land takes
one to two years to design and build,
Althoff said. A mixed-use center in an
urban area will typically take three to
six years to complete.
"There are different code require
ments for residential than there are for
commercial," Althoff said. "Each de
velopment has its own peculiar needs
that need to be addressed. If done cor
rectly, everybody can live harmoni
ously. If done incorrectly, it can lead
to real conflicts that make it difficult to
operate."
For example, grocery stores often
receive deliveries very early in the
morning. If a grocery store is planned
next to apartments, those residents
aren't going to be very happy about
the noise in the pre-dawn hours.
So there are many factors that need
to be considered when designing a
mixed-use development, Althoff said.
"It's much more expensive and it's
much more time-consuming," Althoff
said. "It takes much more time to de
sign and build."
But Althoff said in many ways,
mixed-use developments are worth
the effort. They are typically very pop
ular with communities and local gov
ernments.
"It can be very rewarding. You can
be very proud of them because they do
become your baby over time. It's nice
to see them successful," Althoff said.
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“If you’re building in
an urban environment,
you need to build up.
That lends itself to
retail, residential and
office. All of that can
live together very well.”
-Steve Althoff
Sembler’s senior vice
president of leasing and
property management
www.ReporterNewspapers.netl APRIL19 —MAY2,2013 | 15
