With longstanding shopping meccas like Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square and the more recent addition of Buckhead Atlanta, Buckhead has been one of the Southeast’s premier shopping, dining and entertainment destinations.
Even with the vast offerings between those major attractions, more retail is needed in Buckhead to help the area maintain its status as a shopper’s destination, according to retail real estate experts.
Ray Uttenhove, executive vice president at SRS Real Estate Partners, said while no major retail developments are underway in Buckhead, there is a good bit of redevelopment and those projects promise more unique and connected retail offerings.
“The thing Buckhead doesn’t have is a lot of street front retail that is connected. There isn’t really a shopping street,” she said. “I think what is exciting, and what I would love to see more of, are retail redevelopments and renovations that offer more connection and pedestrian traffic.”
These things seem to be underway in Buckhead. Columbia, S.C.-based Edens is redeveloping Andrews Square and Hanover Co. is building the 22-story Hanover Buckhead Village which will have 353 luxury apartments with restaurants and retail at sidewalk level.
Charlotte, N.C.-based FCA Partners is wrapping up a redevelopment of Buckhead Exchange, a 48,500-square-foot shopping center at Peachtree Road and Grandview Avenue. The Loudermilk Cos. LLC is planning an 18-story condo tower in the Buckhead Village, which will include 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
“I think what we will see is continued redevelopment of some of the older retail in Buckhead,” Uttenhove said.
These redevelopments will likely attract more local retailers who provide unique retail experiences.
“Buckhead is an affluent market and doing well, but there is always room for good additional retail and restaurants,” she said.
Penelope Cheroff, owner of The Cheroff Group, which specializes in restaurant and retail brokerage and consulting, said even though Buckhead is home to two great shopping centers and the upscale Buckhead Atlanta, there is a need for more specialty shops.
“The rental rates in the mall are higher than the small boutique owner can pay, so we need places that can incubate that kind of retailer,” Cheroff said. The redevelopment projects at East Andrews and Buckhead Exchange are a good start to support this movement and welcomed additions in the marketplace.
“They provide the local specialty retailer what is needed — a concentration of stores that makes it a destination,” she added.
Shopping and dining often go hand-in-hand and much like the need for smaller, locally owned stores there is a desire for more locally owned, chef-driven restaurants in Buckhead.
Since its May opening, South City Kitchen Buckhead has been serving up that chef-driven concept in Buckhead. The 6,000-square-foot restaurant is the latest addition for Fifth Group Restaurants and the third South City Kitchen location, with the other two in Midtown and Vinings.
“We are a 24-year-old company and while our home base is Midtown we have grown into other areas…, the time was right to put a restaurant in Buckhead,” said Robby Kukler, partner at Fifth Group Restaurants. “Buckhead is the center of business, entertainment and shopping and is an area that continues to grow. It is a great neighborhood and business center and we knew we could be part of the fabric of that neighborhood and bring something from dining perspective that didn’t exist there.”
Originally appearing in the The Atlanta Business Chronicle
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