Atlanta Needs Thriving Streets of Buckhead

By Tony Wilbert

ATLANTA (Feb. 9, 2009) - There's a huge construction pit in the heart of Buckhead's former bar district, and though it's quite ugly right now, everyone in Atlanta's commercial real estate is staring at the hole.

If all goes well for developer Ben Carter Properties, an upscale mixed-use project with an open-air retail center like nothing else in Georgia will emerge in 2010. If Carter stumbles, Buckhead residents could be saddled with a gaping 9-acre reminder that we're in for a long, long recession.

It's interesting to hear how many people are fascinated by the possibility the $1.5 billion project, The Streets of Buckhead, might fail. Some say they expect a few retailers that have signed on to exercise their rights to terminate their leases, at a cost of course. When Ben Carter Properties asked Balfour Beatty Construction to try to renegotiate terms with subcontractors, word on the street was that the GC was out and that permanent financing would be nearly impossible to secure.

But real estate watchers, competitors and wags with any sense are rooting for Carter to pull off The Streets of Buckhead.

Atlanta needs The Streets of Buckhead to succeed to prove that it's truly a "world-class" city where to-name European shops and international restaurants can thrive. The city needs the Streets to succeed because right now, there's not a lot for tourists in Atlanta outside of downtown, which has issues with homelessness and crime.

And Buckhead, the part of Atlanta people from out of town know best or at least know of, desperately needs the Streets to thrive. Buckhead boosters worked to support Ben Carter's move to assemble land for the project buy snatching up properties that housed some of Buckhead's best bars, a private school and Ray's New York-style Pizza. Buckhead residents who loved the bars at least took some solace in knowing that the Streets would be a worthwhile replacement.

If the Streets succumbs to the recession, started appropriately enough by a mortgage mess, Buckhead's Peachtree spine will be broken.

When Sam Massell, president of the Buckhead Coalition, former Atlanta mayor and current "mayor of Buckhead" delivers his "State of Buckhead" address, I hope he persuades those in attendance to support The Streets of Buckhead.

As for Ben Carter himself, people have bet against him before. When Carter and the late Scott Hudgens announced plans for the 1.8 million-square-foot Mall of Georgia in November 1996, people scoffed and said they'd never pull it off. When the doubters heard whispers that Nordstrom would anchor the mall, located in Buford, Ga., they laughed.

Ben Carter, of course, got the last laugh. When the Mall of Georgia opened on Aug. 13, 1999, Carter beamed, sporting an "I-told-you-so" look on his face.

Let's hope he's laughing and partying like it's 1999 next spring when he cuts the ribbon at The Streets of Buckhead's grand opening.

Comments

[Reactionary]

"Let's hope he's laughing and partying like it's 1999 next spring when he cuts the ribbon at The Streets of Buckhead's grand opening."

I don't think so.

What sort of market research did they do before they started this project anyway? Did they count THAT MANY cash-rich idiots in Atlanta to give those stores the kind of volume they need to carry inventory? Or am I just an anti-progress troglodyte for even asking?

Too bad really. I was looking forward to getting all the dimes out of my couch to afford a $250 tie, purchased in an atmosphere of complete solicitude, seeing as I'd be the only customer they'd have in a week.

[rehote]

Agreed. This project feels horribly researched. This town could use less condo units and retail and more of the neighborhood pubs that were torn down to make room for such. Just watching this mess makes me want to have a drink.