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MIXED-USE PROJECTS ARE
HOT, BUT THEY’RE NOT
FOR EVERYONE
By John Ruch
When Scott Ruzycki, the area
manager of the LA Fitness at Town
Brookhaven looks around at the
neighborhood, he likes what he sees:
hundreds of potential customers living
right next door.
“I think this is one of the smartest
developments that LA Fitness has located
in,” said Ruzycki. “We pull about a
thousand more people than a regular LA
Fitness.”
Many don’t have far to go. The gym
Ruzycki manages sits in the middle of
a massive “mixed-use” development on
Peachtree Road in Brookhaven.
When it comes to new development,
“mixed use” has become master of the
moment. From The Shops Buckhead
Atlanta to Sandy Springs’ City Springs
project, mixed-use redevelopments are
supposedly blending shops, homes and
offices to create downtown-style centers
from Perimeter suburbs.
The mix of retail and housing in
“live-work-play” developments has been
popularized by such high-profile projects
as Atlantic Station and Alpharetta’s
Avalon.
Town Brookhaven was among the
first smaller-scale versions of those
mixed-use, mega-projects to launch in
the Perimeter area. It opened for business
five years ago. That makes it a project
that commercial developers keep in mind
when they think about the mixed-use
developments rising around the area.
“I love mixed-used developments,”
said Steve Tart, who sits on the Sandy
Springs Planning Commission and is a
managing director at Genesis Real Estate
Advisers, a commercial property firm.
But in Sandy Springs, which has made
mixed-use redevelopment of its Roswell
Road “downtown” a priority, notes of
caution already are sounding about
mixed-use zoning.
Sandy Springs City Council recently
passed new guidelines out of concern
that large apartment projects were being
approved under the trendy mixed-use
label and not providing enough of the
walkable, street-front-retail environment
the city wants. And some Sandy Springs
Planning Commission members are
wary of over-promoting mixed-use
development in places it might not work.
“Not every place is made to be retail
... you just can’t have it everywhere,”
Tart said. “Not every community can
have that live-work-play environment.
It’s just not feasible unless government
underwrites part of it.” Tie’s a supporter
of City Springs, the public-private,
$220 million mixed-use redevelopment
underway in Sandy Springs that will
include a new City Flail. City Springs has
already helped inspired two other mixed-
use redevelopment plans for a nearby
shopping center and office complex.
Town Brookhaven is just the sort of
location that raises concerns, Tart said. “I
hear from [Town Brookhaven] retailers
that they hadn’t performed as well as
they anticipated,” he said. “It’s a little bit
between everything. It’s not connected to
anything.. .It sits so far off the road.”
The Sembler Company, which
developed Town Brookhaven and leases
its commercial property, did not respond
to questions.
Tart said that connecting mixed-
use developments to surrounding
neighborhoods is key. “I think [Town
Brookhaven] will be ultimately, long
term, very successful because the
Buckhead community will grow to it
[and] the Brookhaven community will
grow around it,” he said.
Richard Munger, vice president
of development at North American
Properties, which created Avalon in
Alpharetta, said the retail part of a
mixed-use complex cannot be sustained
by the complex’s residents alone. The big
concern for a developer, Munger said,
is “making sure the location has strong
surrounding fundamentals to support the
commercial uses, which include visibility,
employment base, neighborhood
demographics, access and demand.”
That calculation can be seen at
Town Brookhaven, which combines 950
apartments, office space and 460,000
square feet of retail on a 48-acre site.
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