I recently had the opportunity to explore the new, multimillion-dollar, mixed-use Avalon project in Alpharetta, which opened at the end of October. This “new urbanism” community is a really great example of what can be done not just in Georgia, but in the Upstate.
While Greenville has had its share of mixed-use development announcements recently, Avalon takes mixed-use to a whole new level. It’s not just apartments over the top of some retail storefronts.
Developer North American Properties have included an upscale Whole Foods Market, gym, 12-screen movie theater, dog park and lots of outdoor plazas and public spaces with outdoor fireplaces and public seating areas. Retail and restaurant tenants reflect the upscale nature of the community and include Lululemon, Orvis, Kendra Scott, West Elm and Banana Republic. Restaurants are local, chef-driven fare like Oak Steakhouse and Atlanta restaurateur Ford Fry’s El Felix.
Avalon is also the first “fiberhood,” or ultra-high, gigabit-speed Internet community in Georgia. The $600 million development will have 750,000 square feet of class-A office space, more than 90 shops and restaurants, a 300-room hotel and 47,000-square-foot convention center, movie theater, and 800 single-family homes and luxury apartments when it’s completed.
Sound familiar? Maybe not on as grand of a scale, but the Greenville News site property being redeveloped by Trammell Crow has some similar aspects, especially the plaza spaces, which include outdoor fountains, public seating areas and outdoor fireplaces. Why, you ask? Well, it turns out the architect that created the Avalon design is the same company Trammell Crow is using to redevelop the Greenville News site.
So why am I telling you all this? It’s to nudge you. Get out of your familiar setting, out of your comfort zone and see what’s going on in other parts of the country. Alpharetta is only a two-hour drive. Or take a quick trip to Charlotte and visit Myers Park or NoDa or the EpiCenter. Head down to Atlanta and take a look at Atlantic Station or the Buckhead area. I wouldn’t have picked up on the similarities between Avalon and the Greenville News development to ask the question if I hadn’t just visited Alpharetta.
You don’t have to be a developer or builder to get something out of an out-of-town trip. Maybe you’ll see a chair in a store that would work great in your store or in your office or in your home. Maybe you have a conversation with a local businessperson in another town that offers you a unique perspective on something you’ve been trying to figure out for months.
Greenville is a great city and we have great things going on. But there are great and sometimes even greater things going on in other cities too. It’s important to continually learn – to take the best of the best ideas and bring those back to Greenville and watch our city grow and prosper.
As always, keep the conversation going and make sure we know about what you are working on. You can reach me at sjackson@communityjournals.com or on Twitter at @SJackson_CJ.
