ALPHARETTA, Ga. — One of the biggest malls in metro Atlanta is poised to undergo a $500 million makeover that would feature not only retail space, but restaurants, offices, green space, townhomes and apartments.
North Point Mall in Alpharetta, which opened in 1993, has struggled in recent years, especially with the arrival of Avalon, a nearby mixed-use development.
“Since Avalon came along, we can’t attract the same retailers, so we need to rethink, we need to reimagine,” said Terry Montesi, the CEO of Trademark Property Company, which is redeveloping the property. “Avalon came along a few years ago and stole the better tenants out of here.”
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Plans for the 83-acre property call for demolishing 464,000 square feet of North Point Mall and creating an “outdoor-centric” village environment, Montesi said.
The development would also feature a 120,000 square-foot office building and an upscale hotel, along with 18 acres of green space. “People living here, people working here, people staying here overnight, people enjoying the public spaces, none of which is happening today,” he said.
The Alpharetta Planning Commission has already approved the project, but it still needs a vote from Alpharetta City Council, which has a public hearing with Trademark representatives set for November 7.
If the project is not approved, Montesi told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims, the entire mall property would likely have to shut down.
Some city officials have voiced concerns about the number of apartments planned and want it limited to 650. Trademark has proposed 875, saying it cannot lower the number and still have a viable project.
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James Drinkard, assistant city administrator, declined to address the concerns. “The City is not able to comment much on the subject project because it is in the midst of the public hearing process,” he wrote in an email to Channel 2 Action News.
On a weekday afternoon, the mall is usually quiet with plenty of empty parking spaces. Yetty Tedla, a shopper from Cumming, said the redevelopment would be a good thing because the mall “feels lonely and abandoned.”
“So maybe adding some restaurants, and making it more of an outdoor feel, will probably attract more people,” she said.
Another shopper, Carl Pickens, said the last thing this area needs is a bigger mall, but he supports the mixed-use development concept.
“If they’re trying to do something else with it, if they’re tired of it being a mall, then yeah, make some apartment complexes and townhomes and stuff like that,” he said.
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If approved by City Council, the first phase of the redevelopment could by complete by Christmas 2025. The entire project could take up to 10 years to get done.
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