South Dekalb Pulse

North DeKalb Mall is on its way to greatness – what about South DeKalb Mall?

by Ari Meier

TEAR IT DOWN AND REPLACE IT WITH A MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT

New York-based Namdar Realty Group is an international real estate development and investment company that owns the 800,000-square-foot Gallery at South DeKalb. 

From Namdar’s page describing The Gallery at South DeKalb: 

Key Features

Enclosed Mall located in the southeastern section of Atlanta, known as Decatur, Georgia. Situated minutes away from I-285, and directly off I-20 on Candler Road. Located less than 10 miles from downtown Atlanta.

Glenwood Park in Atlanta

Just imagine for a moment that The Gallery at South Dekalb disappeared. When you drive up Candler Road, you don’t see the 50-plus-year-old mall, but you see something different. You see shops lining the street level at Candler Road, instead of being able to look down into the valley that once held The Gallery at South DeKalb. When driving down into the valley, you see what looks like a small city center. You find buildings of differing heights and designs with retail names that are not within 20 miles of this location, but names that residents in the area seek out, drive to, and shop at… 20-plus miles away.

In your mind, you’ve seen this type of development, with names such as Atlantic Station, Edgewood Retail District, Glenwood Park, and Avalon. Residents of the actual city of Decatur and Atlanta come out to this location, to shop at stores that they used to have to travel much further to shop at. 

WOULD SOUTH DEKALB/EAST ATLANTA SUPPORT THIS?

This is something that could happen. With I-20 being one of the busiest freeways in the south, south DeKalb residents (or Atlanta east siders) shouldn’t sleep on the potential of redeveloping the Gallery at South DeKalb. There will be the usual, “this won’t fly in south DeKalb, because of the income issues” crowd. It’s all about providing a desirable destination. There’s a solid middle class in the south DeKalb market area. 

Edgewood Retail District Atlanta – North American Development Group

The issue is not that most residents don’t want to or can’t support the retail, they like most consumers want the whole shopping experience to be something that they feel great about shopping at. Atlantic Station does a great job in this area. Its offerings are nothing out of the ordinary, it has a Publix, movie theater, mall-type retail, a huge confusing parking garage, and enough events happening year-round. Atlantic Station is a basic mall-type shopping center in a nice wrapping. They’ve also upgraded Atlantic Station a couple of times in the past nine years since its opening. Retail center upgrades are important.  This is why in other parts of the metro with similar economic demographics, retail centers, and stores are upgraded, renovated, and refashioned often. The retail stores and shopping center owners know that doing an upgrade every 20 years won’t fly with the consumers in those areas. Why should it fly in south DeKalb? 

Imagine having a Christmas tree lighting at the new South DeKalb (AtlantaEast Marketplace?). Imagine a weekend flea market. Imagine an amphitheater with events almost year-round. This is doable and we should explore this further. We should ask Thor Equities, “what are your plans for this property?” A repurposing of The Gallery of South Dekalb would be an amazing asset. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.