The old Great Gatsby's store in Chamblee is being turned into a transit-oriented, mixed-use development.
Spruce Street Partners has picked up the former antiques retailer on Peachtree Boulevard out of foreclosure with BB&T for an undisclosed sum. Spruce Street's J.R. Connolly (here with Spruce Street's Amy Wells) says he plans to turn the site into a mixed-use development that's walking distance from Chamblee MARTA station, and could be the northern most TOD project in Atlanta. “We're working with various retailers for the retail component,” he adds.
The project will also have multifamily and possibly a hotel, J.R says. (In our view, the only difference between those two are suitcases.) This isn't the first developer to take interest in the site. JLB Partners eyed it for an apartment community as well. But according to sources, the firm was unable to come to terms to acquire Great Gatsby's.
So what is Spruce Street? J.R. may be best known for his own firm, Connolly Realty, which is still a prolific retail developer in metro Atlanta, with such projects as Hickory Flat Commons (a Kroger strip center in Cherokee) and Reynolds Crossing (another Kroger center in Duluth). He began Spruce Street last year, funneling capital from various institutional and family sources to focus on mixed-use and opportunity developments.
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