Opposing Sides Speak Out in Suburban Plaza Court Case, More Potential Tenant Info Released
Decatur Metro | August 14, 2013
Selig has sent a letter, which is posted on the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association website, stating they are confident they will “prevail over Good Growth DeKalb’s attempts to stop the redevelopment of Suburban Plaza.” They continued that “Judge Tangela’s Barrie’s dismissal of our motion to intervene was not surprising and was expected. Selig has the same position as DeKalb County, so there was no reason for two sets of lawyers to stand up in court and repeat the same argument. Duane Pritchett the county attorney handling the case did an excellent job presenting the facts in response to the claim that ordinances weren’t followed when permits were issued for this project.”
Late last week, Good Growth DeKalb also sent out a letter stating that they were”…pleased with the outcome” of the judge’s decision to defer motions that the group had brought before the DeKalb County Court against the Suburban Plaza redevelopment. They noted “that their attorneys represented them with strength and clarity, and that the Judge is taking a serious look at their case. In addition to studying the zoning code, Judge Barrie is giving Good Growth DeKalb until September 1 to submit arguments against the County’s motion to dismiss specifically on the issue of standing. “Standing” refers to whether or not the plaintiffs meet the criteria for parties who have the legal right to sue.”
In addition to that, Walmart spokesperson Bill Wertz has contacted us stating that “Walmart is looking forward to Judge Barrie’s decision in this matter and remains firmly committed to the Suburban Plaza redevelopment.”
Selig’s letter also details a longer list of potential tenants at Suburban Plaza. The letter notes that Selig has already executed lease agreements with Walmart and L.A. Fitness (which will include a daycare facility).
Additionally, they state that they are in “serious negotiations” with Home Goods, Joann’s, and Ross Dress for Less “to anchor the balance of the center”. As for restaurant prospects, the only mention is of a Starbucks Coffee shop with a drive-thru.
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Uh oh. WalMart must be wavering in its interest. Sort of the 110% support cliche.
( up front: I’m a community liaison for Selig on the redevelopment of Suburban Plaza, as well as a cross-neighborhoods committee member. Any comments on the project are as a DM regular or as a liaison for Selig, depending on what fits with what I’m weighing in on– Scott Selig’s cool with either. Now where’s my prize for longest disclosure ever? :0)
AMB- You so silly!
DM- I wish you’d have said Bill Stogner wrote the letter– he’s a “grew up in” Decatur boy! His first job was cook at the old Pizza Hut, he was a lifeguard at Venetian Pool, and he went to high school with Chris Billingsley and Dave Jones!
Sorry, but this development sounds much better than what’s in the space now. We are next door neighbors to this, in town homes off Church Street, so let me say as a neighbor and homeowner, I support it.
What’s GGD’s alternative? The eyesore that Suburban Plaza is now?
Their alternative is a wish list of local stores, senior center, amusement park, etc — and oh yeah, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
That is the joke — they don’t like Wal-mart cause they are big business and evil and create traffic and stuff, yet other big business like Trader Joe (Aldi) or WFM are just fine.
Trader Joe’s would do more to ruin local business in Decatur than Wal-Mart. They would actually compete head on with our small, local shops and underprice them.
True, I buy things at Sawicki’s, Oakhurst Market, maybe the new market coming to College and ?Mead?, that would probably exist at TJ’s. I wouldn’t necessarily be buying just because the item was cheaper at TJ’s but because I was at TJs picking up a bunch of items and it was most time-efficient to do all the shopping there rather than hit two or three establishments.
Nah, the eyesore that is Surburban Plaza is much nicer than any redevelopment would provide. Let the modern day Luddites prevail!
One of the GGD alternative suggestions early on was a bird sanctuary. Not sure if that’s still on their agenda or not. Wouldn’t mind seeing one of those at the abandon car lots though.
That’s not economically feasible, given the cost of land unless some benefactor comes up with a purchase. Have you been to the Woodlands? It’s several acres of nature in the middle of an urban area, made possible by a family’s donation.
I’m not in agreement with them, though bird sanctuaries in appropriate places are nice. That particular suggestion says to me they’re unrealistic in their expectations for this piece of property.
Yep. Fortunately, that’s the only thing they are unrealistic about
My cats say bring on the bird sanctuary! Of course, they would enjoy it for completely different reasons than you.
Of course if your cats were loose there, it wouldn’t exactly be a bird “sanctuary”. A buffet maybe…
Bird Sanctuary? Why are they setting their sights so low? Why not an Elephant Sanctuary?
Or you know what Decatur/Atlanta REALLY needs??? A WATERFRONT!
That’s what they should be demanding! A big body of water with a beach! That would be awesome! But of course… we wouldn’t want there to be any parking, or there would be allot more traffic as people from all over the region tried to enjoy our new amenity.
A well built mixed use center with retail, offices, and residential has been proposed. Another use was for DeKalb Medical to take over the space for a medical office park and research development.
It is a big box WalMart being built in an already high traffic area with no concern for nearby residents and the small 2 lane roads around Suburban that are a cause for concern. A 24 hour Super WalMart, btw.
The answer isn’t nothing vs WalMart. The answer is building the best possible redo of this plaza.
A mixed-use center will be utilized all day as well, so the 24-hour Wal-Mart doesn’t bother me. And whatever development you put here will still front the “small 2 lane roads” around it.
The Fuqua development across the street has proposed other office and retail uses along with residential apartments. Ignore the street in between them – which seems poised to get upgrades via both of these projects – and their combination becomes a mixed-use development. They also happen to be adjacent to a 6-lane US highway.
You don’t have to have a mix of uses on every parcel to obtain the benefits of mixed-use development.
“no concern for nearby residents”
Any basis for this comment?
Anybody know if the L.A. Fitness will have a pool? That would be awesome.
Also, basketball court?
Yes, the LA Fitness will have a pool and a basketball court.
The East Lake Y and the Decatur Y have pools and basketball courts. At a very reasonable price, to boot.
Shoo, salesman! :0)
Drive thru Starbucks? Sure I would prefer it be a drive thru Octane, Dancing Goats or Java Monkey – but Starbucks will do!
I was scared to post that sentiment first because, depending on their orientation, folks either consider Starbucks to be a decadent liberal luxury or a corporate, suburban bastardization of the coffeehouse concept. But being able to do drive-through lattes, however surbanized, in this part of town will have its benefits.
I believe both of those things about Starbucks to a certain extent, but that doesn’t stop me from occasionally patronizing them when my wife stops in to feed her admitted addiction. We actually prefer Dancing Goats (or Java Monkey when we lived on the other side of the square), but when you have young kids, the ability to hit a drive thru is a MAJOR tipping point.
I do take my stand on their bastard ordering terminology, however. It’s “large,” dammit. You can shove the Espresseranto.
The drive-thru comes in particularly handy with young kids in the car – especially when they fall asleep in the car seat and you can’t get out of the car to run in for a coffee…..with my first, I would drive to Caribou or the Starbucks across the street from it, but this would be so much closer! I would prefer it open now though – don’t make me wait!
Exactly. Now imagine that with twins.
I remember when neither of you had kids! How weird is that?
Just wait until you can say that at your own kid’s high school graduation. Won’t be long!
I remember when DM didn’t have kids, either!
Creepers gon’ creep…
I would love to have a Ross in that shopping center. That’s all I got.
At some point Decatur needs a comic shop. Other than that, I’m good.
There used to be one in Suburban Plaza, but you may have already known that. Comics and baseball cards. Went there ALL the time.
Oh man, I can’t believe I can’t come up with the name of that store right now. I too went there constantly…more for baseball cards than comics, but that store was awesome.
Two fabric stores? Hancock Fabric AND JoAnne Fabric?
Joann’s and Hancock frequently have stores near each other. I guess a customer coming to one store is likely to go to the other on the same trip. Also, Joann’s is more of a craft store than fabric store nowadays.
Hope you are right. Because having Joann’s, Hancock, Intown Quilters, and Sheepish all within 15 minutes of me will be wonderful. I remember having to buy yarn in a grocery store or limited Target years ago because I needed it quickly and didn’t have time to go all over the place looking for it. There’s hope for this world when there’s nice materials available for the enjoyment of making things by hand.
Selig won’t be addressing which existing tenants are slated to remain until the roster’s more fully set.
Speaking of existing tenants, I had a long conversation with one of the small business owners yesterday who’s absolutely livid that the construction’s being held up. Customer traffic is way down in Suburban Plaza, especially since Last Chance moved out. He’s furious that GGD keeps touting how they’re for local businesses when what they’re actually doing is causing hardship for him. He said he’s about ready to gather up the other tenants and go after GGD himself. (Which I wouldn’t mind seeing because when he gets going, WATCH OUT! :0)
so Ross builds there and (I assume) leaves another giant empty space in North Dekalb Mall down the road? fantastic. maybe we can put the Trader Joe’s there? /sarcasm
If you were Ross, where would you rather be? In a new, revitalized Suburban Plaza or a dying North Dekalb Mall?
It might actually improve the store. The one at NDM is pretty sad.
I know we’ve been down this road before, but it would be pretty great if Costco moved in the mall space somewhere. I wonder if that’s still on the table.
Dunno, but I agree. Not sure if the Ross space is big enough though.
No luck. I ran into some Costco execs at a function about a year ago, and asked them pointedly why the proposed NDM location had been moved to Brookhaven. They indicated it had some to do with demographics/traffic, but also with the wetlands that exist around the mall that were creating too many roadblocks in permitting–something to that effect. It’s apparently off the table now.
That’s disappointing to hear. I go to the Marshalls occasionally but never go in the actual mall. I don’t know if anything could really revive it at this point. Walking into that Macy’s is like walking the twilight zone. I have no clue how they are able to stay open unless the Christmas crowd is able to keep them afloat for the rest of the year.
“I go to the Marshalls occasionally but never go in the actual mall. I don’t know if anything could really revive it at this point.”
And Dawgfan’s, “… or a dying North Dekalb Mall?”
Mall GM Taylor Dozier is exactly the right person to infuse new energy into N. DeKalb Mall! We’ve exchanged a few emails over this year, and his enthusiasm for making it into an inviting neighborhood mall again says it’ll surely happen. The wonderful community garden and the events and programs he and his marketing manager are coming up with reflect their new direction. And while the tenant roster may struggle for a bit longer, they’ll soon be sharing some good news too. All of us who are rooting for N. DeKalb Mall need to add it back into our regular rotation– it’s the $$$ at the cash register that will keep the existing businesses we like there, and it’s what will ultimately attract new ones.
And just a side note about demographics, I’m curious about this. I mean, take the neighborhoods on both sides of the mall: COD, Medlock/Willivee, Clairmont, Lavista, N. Druid Hills, and the actual Druid Hills neighborhood. I do understand that this location couldn’t support Saks Fifth Avenue, but in many of the neighborhoods you can’t buy a 1 bedroom for under 190k to start (higher in Decatur) , so that to me implies working family households. True there are groups of apartments, but it’s not like the surrounding area is flat busted broke either. Unless they assume many in these areas are “house poor.”
I think they know that we will all drive 20 minutes to Brookhaven, Perimeter or even Gwinnett. And let’s be honest – absent tearing down the mall, North Dekalb isn’t exactly a desirable location (except of course for Golden Corral which seems to have a line out the door no matter what time of day it is).
Tis true, and I go to Sams on Clairemont and it only takes about 10 minutes to get there, maybe that being so close was also a factor.Re: OCB- I did try the buffet once but it wasn’t worth the line I waited in, it wasn’t terrible or anything, but everything was just mediocre. I could see where it would appeal if you had to feed several people with diverse tastes but I could eat much better for $15, and still have takeaway from other places. I have heard they have a pretty decent breakfast though. I hoped the buffet would increase mall traffic, but have no idea if it actually does or not. That checkers sitting empty on the corner just needs to get torn down, looks really raggedy, or get turned into a Krispy Kreme, they’re usually about that size.
All good points guys.
What timing!
http://blogs.ajc.com/food-and-more/2013/08/15/30-restaurants-in-30-days-golden-corral/
I could be mistaken, but I got the impression they were talking more about the demographics of Brookhaven — not so much discounting the demographics of our area, which definitely seem to be shifting younger and more working-professional every year. Again, that was just a passing term in a casual conversation though. They mentioned the wetlands challenges more.
Also, auto-dependent retail doesn’t really do their market analysis based on the demographics of adjacent neighborhoods. More likely they’re looking at 5 miles or so out in all directions, which covers a lot of territory.
+1, and I still hold out hope it will happen, but have no evidence to that effect.