According to Decaturish, the Costco store at North DeKalb Mall is approaching initial site work . Readers of both ToNeTo Atlanta and Decaturish reached out Friday with news that they had received a flyer in the mail of a "community [rezoning] meeting" regarding a proposed rezoning of the North DeKalb Mall property. The meeting, planned for Thursday April 26, will take place in the former ROSS Dress For Less in the mall and will last from 7 to 8 pm.
The proposal seeks to rezone property at 2050, 2054, 2144 Lawrenceville Highway from C-1 (Local Commercial) to MU-4 (Mixed Use High Density) for the purpose of redeveloping the North DeKalb Mall site for a mixed use development and for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) to allow for gas pump accessory to retail store.
The purpose of the meeting is to "inform the surrounding communities of current rezoning and special [land] use applications. It's an opportunity for the community to learn about the proposed project, and ask questions, present concerns and make suggestions."
Kathryn M. Zickert, a partner in, and the leader of, the Zoning, Planning and Land Use Practice Group of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP, and attorney for mall owner Sterling Organization, confirmed to Decaturish that the rezoning and gas SLUP relates to a Costco store. According to Zickert, the Costco store could open in 2020, at the earliest, but it might open as late as 2021.
Despite widespread industry fears of "the Amazon effect" and new ecommerce grocery businesses like Jet (now owned by Walmart) and Boxed (referred to as "Costco for Millennials,"), Costco's commitment to building in North DeKalb is a testament to their faith not only in their business but the community, too.
Last June, a well-placed source told Decaturish that Costco was planning for a March 2020 opening. According to Zickert, the redevelopment would be mixed-use and include 450 multifamily units – apartments and possibly town homes – and a 152 room hotel. There would also be additional restaurant and retail space. She said at least two existing tenants – the AMC movie theater and the Burlington Coat Factory – will continue their leases at the space during the redevelopment. ToNeTo Atlanta has heard numerous times from various sources that Marshalls and AMC Theatres plan to maintain their presence at the property indefinitely.
Due to the project’s size, it will have to be vetted as a Development of Regional Impact by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC).
There has been talk of a Costco store opening at North DeKalb Mall since at least 2008. In the decade since then, the mall has continued to lose tenants including Chick-fil-A, Applebee's, Rack Room Shoes, ROSS Dress For Less, Play it Again Sports, Bath & Body Works, Wendy's and Macy's.
Marshalls (2010) and Dollar Tree (2013) may be the last national retailers to have opened in the mall.
Despite the closures in the mall, a number of new business have opened and in some cases reopened outside the mall.
Both Checkers and Exxon reopened previously closed locations on North Druid Hills Road in front of the mall, while Zaxby's, Golden Corral and Goodwill store, donation center & offices all opened around the mall.
Originally constructed in 1965 and anchored by a Rich's department store, the mall is currently occupied mostly by local businesses with short-term leases. When Sterling Organization bought the mall in 2014, it said its plans were to transform the 622,297 square foot space into an open-air mall concept. The idea, the act of "de-malling" has been a popular trend in commercial real estate. A similar transformation took place in Asheville, NC, where the former Biltmore Square Mall was reborn as Asheville Outlets. The largely vacant indoor mall was stripped of most of its inline retail and replaced with new outdoor outlets with the exception of an existing former Dillard's turned outlet that remained, and serves as one of the center's anchors. An enclosed "food pavilion" also opened in place of the mall's former food court.
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| The former Macy's at North DeKalb Mall |
According to DeKalb County property records, Sterling paid $15.5 million for most of North DeKalb Mall in 2014 and paid an additional $10 million to purchase the two level Macy’s store and accompanying auto center space in 2015.
As we reported earlier this week, Arrowhead Investors, LLC is seeking the rezoning of a total of 13 acres near North DeKalb Mall for the construction of over 100 single-family and town home units. The same firm previously laid the groundwork for a smaller development across from the QuikTrip on the back side of North DeKalb Mall. That project, today known as Towns at North Decatur, is a 41 unit, three-story town home community currently under construction, with units starting in the $400,000s according to the property's website.
While Decatur area residents may have to wait at least a couple more years for their Costco to open, a new Costco in Woodstock near The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta is expected to open August 10.
Are you excited by the prospect of a Costco at North DeKalb Mall? Do you think the addition of a hotel and residential units on the mall property makes sense? What types of retailers or restaurants would you like to see open as part of the mixed-use redevelopment?
Please share your thoughts below.