Big H Center Owner Responds To Trader Joe's Rumors
Decatur Metro | June 6, 2008Personally, I don’t think that Trader Joe’s would ever consider an Oakhurst location primarily due to access issues and low-population density. But just the mention of a grocery store on the Oakhurst Message Board has gotten many local residents up in arms about the long-vacant Big H Center on the edge of downtown Oakhurst.
Accusations of turning down perfectly good companies and unreasonable rents have led the property’s owner and Oakhurst resident, Bruce Cohen, to respond on the board.
Here are his remarks…
I manage the property in Oakhurst where people have expressed interest in having a Trader Joe’s. Please be assured that the rumors of my turning down Trader Joe’s or any other grocery store at that location are completely untrue. I have approached every grocery store chain in the country about coming to Oakhurst, and the problem is that this location does not meet the requirements. National chains will generally only build stores with a certain traffic count and population density, and they almost always want to be at an intersection with a traffic light. I have also contacted every independent market in metro Atlanta; however, very few have expanded in the past several years due to competition from the chains. I was hopeful about having a Market One (the former Harry’s in a Hurry at Ponce and Highland) come to Oakhurst, but unfortunately that business folded.
I would love to have a grocery store in this property and welcome any suggestions or contacts anyone can offer. If anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at visionprop@…, and please put something in the subject line about 630 East Lake so I know your e-mail is not spam.
Again, I welcome and appreciate your suggestions, help or contacts.
Bruce Cohen–Vision Properties
Believe me, I’m just as anxious for a walkable grocery as the rest of you. But over the months I’ve discovered there are real roadblocks for walkable cities that exist in the form of the grocery store expectations (be it huge parking lots or accessibility). From my observations, Publix seems the most forward-thinking in the area, with locations at Atlantic Station and “coming soon” to Avondale (though I believe both still have tons of parking, just not in the traditional layout). But Decatur folk already have a Publix in relative proximity at N. Decatur and Clairemont, so we must look for other alternatives.
Are Oakhurst residents excited about the Avondale Publix? Though not necessarily walkable, I would think this would become, by far, the most accessible grocery store to the neighborhood.
There is already a Publix in East Lake (2nd and Glenwood) that will be closer to most Oakhursters t(or at least more convenient) than Avondale.
It’s actually a pretty new, nice, clean store equivalent to most other Publix and actually much roomier than the one on North Decatur.
If not the Publix then most people in Oakhurst shop at the Kroger in Edgewood.
I don’t think a full scale grocery store would work in Oakhurst (or maybe even in Decatur). But we would welcome a specialty grocery!
The Big H site needs to be torn down and redeveloped – it is an automobile-oriented and dependent property, which is part of why it is vacant.
A redevelopment plan that includes some residential units and brings the retail space to the sidewalk will work with the current neighborhood density and traffic. It will also benefit the other Oakhurst Village businesses and remove a significant eyesore, that vast blacktop parking lot.
As for Bruce Cohen, who are we to believe? Him, or our lying eyes? Practically everything he owns seems to miss out on the economic resurgence of Decatur. There were a few online nominations for a local award for him while back on the decatur blur – http://decaturblur.blogspot.com/2007/01/decatur-nimbys-set-sights-on-cemetery.html
For Bill – there is also the Kroger on Dekalb Industrial, the Publix at Clairemont/N. Decatur, and of course any specialty grocer would be doing battle with the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. Throw in the new Walmart at Avondale Mall, which has ridiculously low prices and groceries, and the proposed Costco, and it is a difficult market for grocery stores.
The Big H site needs to be torn down and redeveloped – it is an automobile-oriented and dependent property, which is part of why it is vacant.
A redevelopment plan that includes some residential units and brings the retail space to the sidewalk will work with the current neighborhood density and traffic. It will also benefit the other Oakhurst Village businesses and remove a significant eyesore, that vast blacktop parking lot.
As for Bruce Cohen, who are we to believe? Him, or our lying eyes? Practically everything he owns seems to miss out on the economic resurgence of Decatur. There were a few online nominations for a local award for him while back on the decatur blur.
For Bill – there is also the Kroger on Dekalb Industrial, the Publix at Clairemont/N. Decatur, and of course any specialty grocer would be doing battle with the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. Throw in the new Walmart at Avondale Mall, which has ridiculously low prices and groceries, and the proposed Costco, and it is a difficult market for grocery stores.
what would be great would be a co-op such as Sevanada–but a worker’s run co-op instead of a consumer co-op—-it would be small and community oriented and would get plenty of business, the space cries out for a food market—I agree about the huge parking lot being a downer, but I would worry about $500,000 condos being put in instead of practical shops if it was redeveloped
“From my observations, Publix seems the most forward-thinking in the area…”
Another interesting, though not entirely comparable example of Publix thinking outside the box is the largely underground store in Midtown beneath the condo tower between W Ptree and Spring in the block north of 8th.
Much like the Publix at Cheshire Bridge and Lavista, it feels half as wide but twice as deep as a typical store.
OK, so maybe so maybe I’m an unsophisticated kid from the burbs, but it’s cool to park in the lowest level of an underground garage and walk straight in to a Publix. And it’s a short walk for people living in a half-dozen nearby tall buildings.
Hey, Xokyditive. Nothing unsophisticated about it. The fastest growing markets for product distribution in America in the coming decades resemble exactly what you describe. After being virtually ignored and defunded for years, America’s city’s are showing a little life again. There’s a lot of opportunity available, but only for retailers who recognize that city people want shopping opportunities that respect and plug into an urban lifestyle. For folks who don’t shy away from density, places like the Midtown Publix are ideal.
keith, what’s the matter with $500,000 condos? Wouldn’t ANYTHING there be better than what is there now?
I had mentioned on the Oakhurst blog of my love of the Candler Park Market and how it would do a great business in Oakhurst. I always feel like I need to take a shower when I go to the hop n shop to buy something. I don’t know, maybe its the high school drop outs hanging at the front with their pit bulls that leaves something to be desired….
Anywhoo…Is the Big H only available for retail? Or could it be rezoned for mixed use or simply residential.
Either way, talk about Mr. Cohen missing the boat on that property, IMHO. Reminds me of the people who thought that home prices were going to go up forever, held on too long, then flooded the market with homes.
Eric,
$500,000 condos aren’t affordable. We need more, not less, affordable housing in this neighborhood. Unless we want an homogenized, super-affluent, exclusive club instead of a healthy, diverse, thriving community.
There is nothing intrinsically bad with $500,000 condos, just as there is nothing intrinsically good about “affordable” housing. You know, sometimes a development with $500,000 condos (with presumably higher income people living in them) might be what it takes to encourage other businesses to go out on a limb and invest in a neighborhood like Oakhurst or a city like Decatur. If I owned a business, I would sure be interested to know whether there is enough income in the area to support the services I am offering.
And while I fully support affordable housing options to make sure that our city workers, teachers, public safety officers, and service workers can live and work in Decatur, I will show you a nearly empty affordable apartment to condo conversion at Ansley and Jefferson Place which hasn’t sold many units in the 5+ years I’ve lived in Oakhurst. Or I will show you the affordable housing on Oakview on the north side of the Old Scottish Rite that does not look like it was build with very much quality.
The truth is we need both affordable housing and more expensive housing in Decatur in order to attract the services that we want and need and to maintain the diversity that we value. It doesn’t do anyone any good to look your nose down upon any particular group or create class envy among Decaturites!