542 Church Street Done Gets Sold
Decatur Metro | April 16, 2010Gene Kansas tweets DM with news regarding 542 Church Street…
Breaking News: Gene Kansas & Michael Dinerman close sale of 542 Church Street today for Pope & Land.
What will it be?! What will it be?! I’m trying to see if I can get any further details, but that’s probably the extent to what the agent can tell me.
Back in November, we dreamed it could become anything from a theater to a Trader Joe’s (of course).
Pave paradise and put up a parking lot.
Oh, Trader Joes, the 30030 still hears your siren’s call ….
Wishin’, and hopin’, and thinkin’, and prayin’…:-D
Still working on getting Trader Joe’s to Decatur…I’ve heard that they are hesitatant to open a new store in the area until the Midtown location picks up. But I’ve also heard fom the corporate office that they are also aware of the Decatur demand for a Trader Joe’s.
If you haven’t already–join the facebook group “Bring Trader Joe’s to Decatur” We’re almost at 1300 members.
Midtown location is horrible with regard to access. I avoid that one although it is more convenient to me.
Suspect the in/out and parking lot craziiness has a lot to do with the disappointing sales.
I agree – the only reason I don’t go to Trader Joe’s in Midtown more is because parking is a nightmare. I could easily swing by there after work, but rarely do.
Parking at the Church St site would be worse than Midtown. The campaign at one time was for the Suburban Plaza site.
YES!!! To the Suburban Plaza idea!!!
(I sure hope that Trader Joe’s (or another grocer) will take a look at the actual foot traffic instead of just writing the shopping center off as not being the right retail mix. Definitely not chi-chi, but those are all probably some of the more profitable stores for their parent companies.And their future looks real good for the next few years.)
And there are multiple ways in and out of that location, so it would not be more trouble than it’s worth to shop there. (I agree with those who pointed out the inconvenience of the Midtown location discourages patronage.)
a perfect location would suburban plaza!
Any idea how much it sold for? I used to work for Pope and Land and I want to say they paid $1M for it.
Got the buyer. Update from Gene Kansas…
“Grand plans to redo. Buyer is Association For Clinical Pastoral Education for teaching center. GK|CRE represented the Seller.”
Well, I guess there are a lot of nearby hospitals to funnel their students too…Hope they are beer drinkers!
Is this a non profit ? If so , it will hurt to lose more tax paying commercial property.
They will pay property taxes.
Wonder if they will offer micro-brews?
Oh wait..not another restaurant…never mind.
Dreams of a TJ’s dashed once again!
If Trader Joe’s comes to Decatur, it is going somewhere with a big honkin’ parking lot. Period. Let’s dream a little dream of TJ’s and Costco in N. Decatur Mall. Or maybe that closed Chrysler Dealership out that way. They would want to pick a location close enough to us to cash in on all the Decatur love, but shift things East to get a big cheaper parking lot, appeal to folks out in the direction of stone mountain, and to not further cannibalize the apparently slow midtown store. You could draw a venn diagram of locations that would fit.
These guys look like a great addition to downtown Decatur though. Fantastic. Stable organization in the growing healthcare field that will bring a lot of professionals into our downtown to help support restaurant and retail. I’m assuming their classes are remote, but we can hope that they will occasionally be bringing in folks for training on location. You’d also expect them to have the money needed to do a nice job turning that eyesore into a building that will fit our streetscape.
We can’t forget how dependent all our shops and restaurants are on weekday foot traffic from these types of offices.
I do like the N. Dekalb Mall option better. I want to see that mall revitalized because it was a nice, low key place to shop just a few years back. And a Trader Joe’s/Costco combo would once again make it a major draw for folks from many miles around. Heck, those two together might use up all its parking space! Good problem to have!
And I’m still hoping that the Piggly Wiggly/Suburban Plaza rumor will come to be. That is my favorite fit. The folks at the next door seniors towers would probably prefer that option. And I would LOVE to give directions to my house by saying: “When you get to the Piggly Wiggly…!”
I would love TJ at Suburban cos I could walk to do grocery shopping but costco and/ or TJ at NDM would be great too.
Has anyone ever gotten out of Trader Joe’s with just a walking amount of groceries? My family members come back from there looking like they’re laying in provisions for the next 7 years!
[I've just got to say it-- Decatur Metro, this headline is a tad off. It should read : “542 Church Street Done Gone&got Sold”. Not quite sure how you write it, but it's said all one word & fast! Maybe eating collards helps.]