Atlanta Suburb Wraps Up Construction on New Town Center Commercial District

The Atlanta suburb of Snellville, Georgia, has completed construction of a new town center, the latest city in the area trying to forge an identity through a commercial development project.   The Grove at Towne Center, a $140 million project in the works for about a decade, includes residential, retail, office, dining and healthcare. The development is arranged in a town square format with sidewalks and a central landscaped area.   Snellville follows other Atlanta suburbs that have created new commercial village areas to attract businesses, residents and visitors and to foster an identity as a place with a town center. The cities of Alpharetta, Fayetteville, Suwanee and Woodstock in the Atlanta area have created similar commercial developments.   The city of Snellville partnered with Columbus, Ohio-based developer Casto, Atlanta-based MidCity Real Estate Partners and Gwinnett County to create the 18-acre Grove at Towne Center.   Greystar, the largest U.S. apartment owner, operates the 288-unit Tomlin apartment complex. Thrive will operate the coworking space. Retail is spread across multiple buildings, including a 22,000-square-foot building with a craft brewery run by Crooked Can Brewing Co. Northside Hospital is the operator of a medical office, ambulatory surgery center and healthcare clinic. The library is a branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library system.   The new village also includes a parking deck and direct access to the Snellville Greenway, a five-mile walking path under development that will connect with Lawrenceville, Georgia.   For the Record Shannon Dixon and Kristen Dykes at Casto and Kirk Demetrops at MidCity Real Estate Partners are retail and restaurant leasing agents. Chuck Hull and Andy Amor at Smallwood provided architecture, master planning and landscape architecture services. TSW Architects, Place Maker Design and Dynamik Design also provided architecture and master planning services. Fortune-Johnson, Hodges & Hicks and Winter Construction are general contractors.   Click here to view the original story on...

read more

Florida’s Crooked Can to operate brewery, food hall in Snellville

A new brewery and food hall is set for Snellville’s $140 million town center project.   Winter Park, Florida-based Crooked Can Brewing Co. has signed a long-term lease at The Grove at Towne Center. The 18-acre development sits off U.S. Route 78, about 25 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta.   Crooked Can will take roughly 12,000 square feet at the project, operating both a brewery and a food hall with about 10 vendors.   It’s a concept the company first developed in Florida when taking over a space that was just too big for a brewery alone, said Crooked Can founder Andy Sheeter. It’s since expanded to Ohio, and now is coming to Georgia.   “The idea is the brewery will attract people to the food hall. The food hall will attract people to the brewery;’ Sheeter said in an interview Monday. “It really keeps people engaged … It’s kind of one-stop shopping;’   Founded about a decade ago, Crooked Can is known for brews including its Florida Sunshine Lager and High Stepper American IPA. In Snellville, it will also begin producing  cider and mead, Sheeter said. The brewer wants to fill the food hall with local concepts, bringing new options to the 100-year-old suburb of Gwinnett County.   “Hopefully, it’s going to be something, because of that local flair, that people are going to embrace;’ Sheeter said.   Crooked Can will anchor a prime spot at The Grove, taking the first floor of the brick “Market” building, the final piece of the major redevelopment that has created a walkable downtown for Snellville. Sheeter anticipates launching around Thanksgiving or Christmas.   The Grove is a public-private partnership between the city of Snellville, Gwinnett County and two master developers: Atlanta-based MidCity Real Estate Partners and Columbus, Ohio-based Casto.   The Grove spans nine buildings. It includes a 288-unit apartment building called The Tomlin, along with a library, shops, restaurants and public spaces. Other tenants include THRIVE Coworking, Great American Cookie, Marble Slab Creamery and Mexican restaurant Parkside at The Grove.   Northside Hospital also operates a medical complex that opened last year with a surgery center and other services.   The Grove serves as an homage to Snellville’s history, bearing the name of a gathering spot for travelers and traders during the early 20th century.   “From the beginning, our commitment has been to create a vibrant and dynamic gathering space for our community:’ Snellville Mayor Barbara Bender said in an announcement. “Having an amazing operator like Crooked Can decide to bring their first location in the state to Snellville and The Grove at Towne Center is so exciting to witness and be a part of.” This article first appeared in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 23, 2024. To see the original article, click...

read more

Landlord Giveaways Help Fuel Burst Of Atlanta Office Leasing

Companies leased 2.6M SF during the second quarter, a milestone not seen since Q1 2019, according to a Savills report. Leasing activity jumped 63% year-over-year and ticked up from 2.4M SF of leases signed in the first quarter.   Office tenants have been spurred to agree to deals as they gain more clarity on their updated office footprint needs in a hybrid work world.   “It’s a sign that business is happening and companies are making real estate decisions,” T. Dallas Smith & Co. principal Cedric Matheny said. “They’ve done all the rightsizing that they needed to do.”   But they’re also finding sweetheart deals as landlords race to grab leases.   It is increasingly common for landlords to offer a month of free rent for every year of a lease, brokers told Bisnow, a huge jump from the flat rate of two months regardless of lease term more than a year ago.   For major companies taking down a big block of space, Matheny said some landlords are even agreeing to 1.5 months free for every year — 15 months of free rent on a 10-year lease.   “We’re getting what we ask for in free rent,” Matheny said.   Landlords are digging deeper into their pockets to fund tenant build-outs, a sweetener to land a deal that eats at owners’ bottom line. Tenant improvement allowances averaged between $115 and $120 per SF in the second quarter, up from $70 to $100 per SF two years ago, according to Savills.   “TI packages have to be incredibly hefty, which are really hard to digest in Atlanta,” Avison Young principal Kirk Rich said. “Inflation kind of put those on a level playing field with other urban markets around the country.”   Those ballooning TI packages allow landlords to keep their face rents high, and with the delivery of new office buildings hitting the market with ample available space, asking rents have been on the rise.   Asking rents reached $32.61 per SF in the second quarter, a more than 5% increase year-over-year, and buildings in the central business district now top $40 per SF in average asking rent, according to Savills.   All the leasing in the second quarter did little to reverse Metro Atlanta office landlords’ fortunes. More than 1M SF of office space came back on the market in the first half of the year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Available sublease space rose 500K SF year-over-year for a total of 8.7M SF in the second quarter, according to Savills.   Developers are underway with 1.3M SF of new office space, even as some new buildings have struggled to land tenants.   The combined headwinds pushed the overall vacancy rate to 25% metro-wide and nearly 30% in the core Atlanta office markets of Buckhead, Midtown and Downtown, Cushman & Wakefield reported.   While tenant activity has improved, the Atlanta economy continues to see a shrinkage in the types of jobs that typically are housed in offices.   While nonfarm job numbers have grown since the crash in 2020, up from 2.5 million in the region in May 2020 to nearly 3.1 million in May this year, nonfarm office jobs have continued to contract each quarter metro-wide since the middle of last year, according to Savills, citing Federal Reserve data.   “I don’t foresee each quarter [leasing activity] going up,” said Ally Juratovac, a research associate with Savills in Atlanta who authored the report. “I think a lot of them are reducing their square footage. Tech is definitely downsizing.”   Of the 10 largest office deals in the quarter, most were either renewals or companies relocating their local offices to other buildings, according to Savills.   Southern Company Gas inked the largest deal of...

read more

MidCity Signs Two New Leases, 5616 Peachtree Loft Office in Downtown Chamblee, GA now 95% Leased

ATLANTA, GA (February 1, 2024) – MidCity welcomes Architects Orange and ADAPT. Architects Orange, headquartered in California, is a multi-office full-service architect firm specializing in over 15 disciplines. ADAPT is an Atlanta based sports physical therapy clinic providing services in Fitness, Athletics, Therapy and Advanced therapeutic training programs.   About MidCity Real Estate Partners  MidCity Real Estate Partners invests/develops/redevelops Commercial, Residential and Mixed-Use Properties. Projects range from Award Winning Public-Private Town Centers to Vacant Office Buildings. MidCity excels at Value Creation through each phase of the CRE Business Cycle MidCity was founded in 2009 by Kirk S Demetrops, as successor company to The Griffin Company, a 35-year-old full service commercial real estate development and construction company where Mr. Demetrops was President.   With a combined 80 years of experience, MidCity offers a full range of expertise including: Acquisition/Disposition, Development and Construction Management, Master Developer, Marketing/Sales/Leasing, Asset Management and Advisory Services.   Current projects include The Grove at Towne Center (Snellville, GA), 5616 Peachtree (Chamblee, GA) and NorthPlace (Sandy Springs, GA). Previous projects include Alpharetta City Center, Focus Brands Headquarters, JAS Worldwide Headquarters, & Hammond 400 Office Park.   ### If you would like more information about this topic, please call MidCity at...

read more

Northside Medical Snellville opens at The Grove at Towne Center

Snellville Mayor Barbar Bender said the city’s The Grove at Towne Center is “catapulting us” into the future. And the addition of a new Northside Hospital medical building is a big part of that.   On Wednesday, Northside Hospital, Physicians Realty Trust and Realty Trust Group celebrated the opening of Northside Medical Snellville with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 45,000-square-foot medical office building and adjacent 7,500-square-foot medical retail building are part of Phase II of The Grove development.   Adding to the mixed-use development, Northside is bringing a multi-specialty surgery center, orthopedics, women’s imaging, general surgery and physical therapy to The Grove, located at 2306 Wisteria Drive.   “This is an exciting day for Northside, and it’s an exciting day for Snellville as well,” Debbie Bilbro, CEO of Northside Hospital Gwinnett and Northside Hospital Duluth, said. “For the first time, we have opened a Class A medical office building in Gwinnett County that is not on a hospital campus. It tells you what we’re planning to do for the future.”   Bender said the opening is a great day for Snellville residents and for the surrounding area.   “This completely rounds out our health care offerings in the city and provides so many great services, so convenient, for all of our citizens,” she said. “What a great time to be in Gwinnett — all of these great forces coming together and catapulting us into the future.   “In August we celebrated 100 years for the city of Snellville, and I like to think this Grove development and the downtown that we’re building is where Snellville’s come through 100 years and we’re setting it up for the next 100 years, and we’re so happy that Northside’s going to be a part of that.”   Gwinnett Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson said the new medical center is a nice addition to the southeastern part of the county.   “This beautiful, beautiful state-of-the-art facility will address a variety of access needs for patients including surgery, orthopedic care and women’s imaging, just to name a few,” she said. “Patients will not only have quality care closer to home, but they’ll also have access to Northside Hospital’s broad network of best-in-class facilities with highly skilled, caring professionals who provide leading-edge care and therapy.”   Bilbro said Northside Hospital is committed to expand its resources to meet the health care needs of Gwinnett and surrounding communities, and Northside Medical Snellville is the latest large-scale investment by the hospital, joining the following projects: A new medical office building opened this spring on the Northside Gwinnett campus in Lawrenceville with imaging and surgical centers now open and other tenants expected in the coming months. Six Northside Hospital Health Choice Urgent Care centers in Gwinnett County, the latest having opened this month at 665 Duluth Highway in Lawrenceville. Continued work on a 15-story patient tower at Northside Hospital Gwinnett, which includes new imaging centers, additional cardiovascular and emergency surgical units, expanded ancillary and support services and more that is slated to be ready by 2025. Northside Medical Buford, a 100,000-square-foot building with a range of services on Buford Drive that’s expected to open next year. Northside Medical Braselton on Friendship Road in southern Hall County Construction where construction is underway.   “We hear it, that (Gwinnett County) is the second largest county in the state of Georgia,” Bilbro said, “but it’ll soon be the largest county in the state of Georgia. We want to be here to bring health care services to the community, closer to home, as we are doing today.”   This article first appeared in the Gwinnett...

read more

Honore Vista Zoning Approval Granted

ATLANTA, GA (September 12, 2023) – The Board of County Commissioners of Sarasota County, Florida have approved the mixed-use zoning of 32 acres on Honore Avenue, adjacent to Laurel Road and I-75 in Nokomis, FL. Located less than ½ mile from the new Sarasota Memorial Hospital, approved uses include multi-family, medical office, storage, hotel and assisted living. Construction is projected to begin in 2024.   About MidCity Real Estate Partners  MidCity Real Estate Partners invests/develops/redevelops Commercial, Residential and Mixed-Use Properties. Projects range from Award Winning Public-Private Town Centers to Vacant Office Buildings. MidCity excels at Value Creation through each phase of the CRE Business Cycle MidCity was founded in 2009 by Kirk S Demetrops, as successor company to The Griffin Company, a 35-year-old full service commercial real estate development and construction company where Mr. Demetrops was President.   With a combined 80 years of experience, MidCity offers a full range of expertise including: Acquisition/Disposition, Development and Construction Management, Master Developer, Marketing/Sales/Leasing, Asset Management and Advisory Services.   Current projects include The Grove at Towne Center (Snellville, GA), 5616 Peachtree (Chamblee, GA) and NorthPlace (Sandy Springs, GA). Previous projects include Alpharetta City Center, Focus Brands Headquarters, JAS Worldwide Headquarters, & Hammond 400 Office Park.   ### If you would like more information about this topic, please call MidCity at...

read more