Fuqua Proposes Mixed Use Development at Scott Boulevard Baptist Church Location
Decatur Metro | | 9:36 am
The Medlock Area Neighborhood Association reported yesterday that Commissioners Jeff Rader and Kathie Gannon recently met with neighborhood representatives to give a brief update on the Scott Boulevard Baptist Church location, which is being redeveloped by Fuqua Development.
Fuqua presented some “very preliminary” drawings at the meeting. The MANA site summarized it as such…
- As proposed, the development covers 5.5 acres.
- All ten homes on Barton Way are under contract.
- A natural food store would serve as anchor.
- The project is a mixed use development. In addition to retail, it would include 200 apartment units (5 stories high).
MANA states that they’re planning a larger community meeting about the development in July. Jump over to the MANA site for more pics of the renderings and details.
Related Posts:
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August 8, 2013 Fuqua’s Plans for Scott Boulevard Baptist Church Site (23)
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February 17, 2014 New Mixed Use Development Planned for Scott Boulevard Baptist Church Site (14)
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June 27, 2013 Community Meeting to Discuss Scott Boulevard Baptist Church Proposed Development – Monday July 8th (11)
Natural food store as an anchor! Whole Foods? Fresh Market? Interesting contrast to the WalMart development, huh?
Probably Fresh Fare.
I think you mean Earth Fare
I cannot imagine what traffic will be like there with 200 more apartments and wal mart. Ugh
+1. Definitely not anti-development but something really needs to be done about addressing the roads on N. Decatur from Meltons, down past Bike South, and around the Clairmont Rd, area. Not safe for pedestrians, cyclists, or even drivers on some stretches.
Agreed. Wouldn’t it be nice if Fuqua and Selig stepped up, as good citizens, to help pay for pedestrian and bike improvements in that area. It would certainly add to the attractiveness of their properties. Probably very unlikely, but I too can daydream.
I get the sentiment and don’t mean to be confrontational, but Fuqua and Selig, as good citizens, pay property taxes just like us. It’s up to Dekalb County to use those funds for the types of improvements you suggest. That Dekalb County is so poorly run shouldn’t compel certain property owners to pay more than their fair share, unless it provides them with some additional benefit. That may be the case here, but it’s not their responsibility.
Now you are just being ridiculous. Fuqua and Selig are doubly evil – they are corporations and they are developers. Anything less than 100% of their revenue clearly isn’t fair.
They will have to conform to development standards on all sidewalks, driveways, and rights-of-ways fronting the property, but any improvements off-site wouldn’t be their responsibility. But I’ve seen developers pitch in and pay for traffic lights and crosswalks, so who knows?
Guys – I know it’s not their responsibility. I was just dreaming. But if you were a developer and traffic is really going to be that bad, and you can’t rely on DeKalb to get things right, would you be willing to pony up a few million bones to try to fix the public right-of-way to accommodate those that aren’t in the polluting death machines whizzing by? Scott is right – if we wanted something different out of this intersection, we should have changed the zoning years ago. This is, what, a six point intersection? Cars coming here from every direction. Of course big box retail wants to be there.
“But if you were a developer and traffic is really going to be that bad, and you can’t rely on DeKalb to get things right, would you be willing to pony up a few million bones to try to fix the public right-of-way to accommodate those that aren’t in the polluting death machines whizzing by?”
Honesly, no. A few million bones exceeds the expected profit on these deals. If there is no profit, there is no development.
I’m probably in agreement with you, DF, in answering my own question. Just a thought experiment.
If the developer needs variances (not sure), then the public can go to the public hearings and ask for things. More bike racks, wider sidewalks, upgraded landscaping, etc. It won’t solve the larger problem of the infrastructure, but if adjacent property owners follow suit during future redevelopments then maybe we’ll get there.
Just passed a pretty major car-truck mash up on N. Decatur in front of Suzanne – (Definitely avoid any where near here on your way home today)
It’s not the developers’ responsibility, but it is in their best interest if they want to pull customers from Medlock. If it turns out to be a really nice development, I would think they would want to facilitate people getting there safely. Even if they don’t put their own money into it- chances are Steve Selig, or any of his representatives, or anyone from the Fuqua family could easier get wheels greased and make something happen, than average citizen Joe Blow.
Suzanne Drive and N. Decatur, right? Between Superior and the Medlock/Scott/N. Decatur intersection? For a second, I was confused and thought there was a store called Suzanne and wondered why I wasn’t familiar with it.
Thanks for the warning! Will stay way east or way west of there.
Yes, a block or so from Melton’s App & Tap. Everything was still in the road when I passed so it may be a while. Traffic was already way backed up, and not moving, down N. Decatur so definitely steer clear.
Traffic would be fine if traffic circles were implemented along the N. Decatur corridor.
That’s Number Wang!
Uh, what?
Don’t encourage him.
This article behind a pay wall http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2013/03/22/earth-fare-to-atlanta-grocer-looking.html has Fuqua talking about Sprouts – which will be a new natural foods store in Atlanta. Connect the dots?
Oh man, I love that church building. I always thought the curved peaks were so quintessentially mid-century.
You might be thinking of the Presbyterian church on Medlock. The Baptist one is the brick church with the purplish stain glass windows right across from where the Walmart will be. I hadn’t really noticed that had been empty!
Apparently they were down to 50 elderly members:
http://www.abpnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/8235-church-sold-as-members-go-missional#.UcnIb-CRDFk
yup, thanks for setting me straight. Glad to see my favorite church building will remain!
You might be thinking of a different church. There are no curves on Scott Bolevard Baptist that I know of.
What are these people thinking? Traffic at that intersection is going to be nothing less than an absolute nightmare!!!
Does anyone know how the Walmart is progressing?
Not to flog a dead horse (okay, to do exactly that), this has nothing to do with what anyone today is thinking. It has to do with what people were thinking many decades ago when zoning entitlements were set and infrastructure decisions were made.
In short, they created an extremely high-capacity environment and granted large tracts of the adjacent property the right to develop auto-reliant, destination businesses.
Granted (and I don’t know the specifics on this one), Fuqua likely needs zoning changes and/or variances, since these seem to be institutional and residential properties, but it would be silly to think that we (collectively) can create transportation corridors that enable over 50,000 cars to go by every day and be surprised when business interests arise to take advantage of it. We basically put out a gold-plated, taxpayer funded invitation.
So what ever happened to the church and its congregation? It’s website has no postings after January 2012 and its Facebook page none since 2011.
My elderly neighbor was a member there until her passing a few months ago. As I understand it, the membership counts kept declining as the congregation aged and they couldnt strike deals to get other folks to rent their unused space. They didnt get many (if any) new members of the congregation for whatever reason and ultimately had to sell out.
It was a long, steady decline if I have it right.
The church voted to sell its building to Fuqua as its congregation was slowly declining in membership and getting elderly. My understanding is that they are meeting at the First Baptist in Decatur while deciding their future plans.
As long as there are plans to run a rail line down North Decatur, nothing will be done to improve that road. There needs to be a decision-road and rail or improve the road. Leaving things as they are is untenable.
Probably a “will get worse before it gets better” situation and maybe the decision-makers need for it to get worse before people will fully support rail?
If you want rail, you probably want a development pattern to match. This draft falls short.
Sad to see the church go but seems like good project.
Maybe the main sanctuary building could stay? Several restaurants have kept the building skeleton when converted from gas stations. Maybe the church motif could stay. The windows, doors, and steeples are so classic that it’s a shame to destroy them. Wouldn’t a TJ fit nicely into a church? Or a mini-Walmart?
There is a marvelous brewhouse in a converted church in Pittsburgh.
Now that’s a church.
I’m against churches being used for anything but worship. Personally I’d rather see it taken down than used as a bar, a restaurant, a club, etc. Just doesn’t seem right.
I find it hard to believe that you are “against” something. Cuddly, agreeable Bulldog? No way.
And I’m a Democrat! There’s just something about turning churches into something else that irks me. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, of course. It’s just one of those personal dislikes that you can’t really explain.
As someone who grew up as a brainwashed Catholic, I wholeheartedly disagree. Love seeing churches put to good use!
I just can’t bear the thought of tearing down a steeple. Steeples are special. Maybe defunct steeples could be used in cemeteries somehow.
Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh is this particular building. The Diocese came in and removed all the artifacts of the old church and de-consecrated it; meaning at that point it was no longer a church. The owners did a fantastic job of reusing and recycling the pews, etc. It’s a great space. There’s no disrespect at all. The building would’ve been torn down because the Church had consolidated that parish with another one. A “church” is the people, not the building… at least that’s what I think.
Wal Mart definitely does not seem like a good fit for a former church. Maybe a theater though; the pews could come in handy. Maybe it depends on the denomination/congregation. If the grounds/buildings were consecrated in some way, maybe they have to be unconsecrated to avoid sacrilege. But some denominations are more flexible. After all, the former Big H building didn’t exactly emanate spiritual vibes but that hasn’t stopped the church(es) from moving in.
There’s a former church on Ponce in Atlanta near the Publix, that is a condo or apartment. And the church at Ponce and Piedmont was a restaurant for a long time, moved there when it’s former location, an old church at Ponce and W Peachtree, was taken for the BellSouth building.
And of course there is the Tabernacle downtown, which was a church until 1994.
And the Tabernacle is one of the best live spots in town. I live near N. Decatur and E. Ponce. Not that close to this area, but looking way down the road (9 years) if and when my child goes to Druid Hills High school I am dreading making that drive during rush hour to take her to school. It’s one of my least favorite drives on this side of town.