July 01, 2008
This past month Cousins Properties opened/unveiled the next generation of North Atlanta retail, The Avenues of Forsyth. Beyond its shimmering glass, brick facades, colorful awnings and its attention to architecture lies an intricate web of consumer research, psychometrics and lifestyle choices.
The Reality is that retail follows roof tops, a natural by-product of spectacular housing growth, expanding discretionary spending and consumer choices. Norton Native Intelligence's™ research has long lamented that Forsyth County was UNDER RETAILED by as much as 50 percent, translated that means that 50 percent of all potential consumer expenditures of Forsyth County residents is spent across the Forsyth County line.
The Reality is that that's tens of millions in lost Forsyth tax revenue at the surrounding malls, North Georgia Premium Outlet, North Point Mall and Perimeter Mall rake in the revenues in support of their schools, their libraries, and their public safety infrastructure. More retail in any region expands the county's residents shopping choices and affords a strong SHOP AT HOME mentality. An urban retail Mecca like The Avenues also becomes an attractor for shopping from residents in North Fulton (getting some of our reverse revenue back) Gwinnett, Cherokee, Dawson, Lumpkin and Hall Counties.
The Reality is with the opening of Forsyth's Avenues the retail evolution comes to full cycle. Historically, wagons loaded with fresh produce and animal stock would come down from the North Georgia Mountains and park around Cumming's square to sell the locals goods and services. From that epicenter the development of Cumming "the town" evolved from wagons, to free standing general stores, to specialty goods businesses, restaurants and services centered on the TOWN SQUARE. In the 1960's and 1970's as "suburbia" developed in Forsyth County, new strip shopping centers were developed outside its central core at Highway 9 and Highway 20. Then later we saw the entry of big box stores Wal-Mart, Belk's, Target and a long proliferation of other strong category killers, along with isolated neighborhood shopping in every corner of Forsyth.
Now we see a return to core shopping come full circle. The Avenues is a throw back to the old Town Square, wide streets and sidewalks lined with modern day general stores and specialty stores, restaurants and other support uses. We also see The Avenues with its strategic GA 400/141 location becoming the new Town Square for a broader region called Midway: Ga. 400. The project completes the missing link between John's Creek on the East and The Polo Fields/Vickery to the West. Its strategic location and the financial business and government support behind it will rocket the region's business growth. The Reality is we are at the infancy of a new generation of retail and business development. The Avenues is a tipping point of a new city emerging along the Ga. 400 pipeline… and what fun it will be to watch it grow.
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Frank Norton Jr. is president of The Norton Agency, a company founded by his grandfather. W.L. Norton Sr. in 1928. His company prepares an annual Native Intelligence Report for its clients, a 20-year statistical database used by relocating businesses, investors and developers alike to strategically position banking, medical, retail, residential and industrial development.
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