News
SEMBLER'S PROSPECTS
May 17, 2011
| Jeff Fuqua and The Sembler Co aren't known to shy away from ambitious projects. In Atlanta, it has built some of the city's biggest mixed-use projects, including Edgewood Retail District, Perimeter Place in Dunwoody, Lindbergh Plaza, and the under-construction Town Brookhaven. And it may be adding Prospect Park to that list. | |||
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| Jeff (Sembler's president) dazzled us with a couple abstract horses before telling us that the firm—in a consortium with two other firms—has bid to buy Prospect Park in Alpharetta from Wells Fargo. The 100-acre site designated for a mixed-use project was foreclosed upon from Thomas Enterprises. Eastdil's Mike McDonald is selling the property but could not be reached for comment. Jeff calls it ?a great piece of land.? The potential long-term plans of the project were undisclosed as of press time. | |||
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| We also noticed that Sembler is selling its current Atlanta HQ on Johnson Ferry (it's under contract, but mums the word on the buyer) and moving to its Sandy Springs redevelopment gem The Prado. Sembler is one of the few retail developers prolific in the 2000s that managed to survive with its projects largely intact. Jeff says the company never got carried away with its financing, although he would use the phrase "a little cavalier." Calling the environment "too hot," Jeff says there were just too many people in the business, driving up land prices and too much availability of capital. Regardless, Jeff says, ?financially, we're in a good place to go forward. We're definitely back in the development business.? The company's pursuing various sites around town for projects ranging from grocery-anchored to power centers, and it has at least six projects in predevelopment nationwide, including the University of Colorado Health Center project, a 30-acre mixed-use development that's like Town Brookhaven ?but less complicated.? |
