North American Properties has filed site plan changes for The Avenue East Cobb that includes expanded restaurant and retail space and a live music stage and public plaza.
The Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm will go before the Cobb Board of Commissioners next week with a conceptual plan that has been months in the making.
As East Cobb News reported in April, the transformation of the 23-year-old retail center on Roswell Road near Johnson Ferry Road is being eyed with making it a destination space for shopping, dining and entertainment.
According to filings with the Cobb Zoning Office, NAP wants to construct two “jewel box” buildings for outdoor patio dining and small retail in the back side of the center’s current parking lot, which would become an area for optional valet service.
A permanent stage would be built for concerts in front of the current Bravura wedding fashion store, which would demolished for a public plaza with seating.
That’s what NAP has been calling its Central Boulevard, adjacent to the Kale Me Crazy and Stockyard Burgers & Bones restaurants.
The Avenue has been holding weekly live music and other events in a makeshift stage there for several months, not long after it entered into a joint partnership with PGIM to manage the 23,000-square foot retail center.
According to the Cobb zoning filing (you can read it here) “the applicant believes these amendments will help to keep The Avenue successful for years to come.”
NAP developed the massive Avalon mixed-use project in Alpharetta and more recently overhauled Atlantic Station and Colony Square in midtown Atlanta.
NAP officials told East Cobb News in a recent interview that while The Avenue East Cobb is a project on a smaller scale, “everyone feels it has all this potential to be tapped into.”
A number of musical, recreational and entertainment events is geared toward “everyone who comes here.”
Brittni Johnson, a spokeswoman for NAP, told East Cobb News Tuesday that she “cannot disclose the jewel box occupants at this time but [NAP officials] are planning to have a leasing update ready to share soon.”
Shops and stores in that part of the center include Michael’s, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Banana Republic and Gap. Johnson said Bravura, a wedding fashion store, will be relocating to Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta.
The valet and concierge service will be optional, Johnson said, saying it’s designed for shoppers and patrons who choose to have that convenience.
She said there’s not a figure yet on the capacity for the plaza since that’s still in code review. But she said furniture will be added, “and it will be available for use when it’s not activated for events (i.e., eating lunch or mingling with friends).”
Like the plazas at Avalon and Colony Square, she said, “it is really meant to serve as a community gathering space—or as we like to call it the property’s ‘living room.’ ”
Since NAP’s plans don’t require rezoning, they don’t have to go before the Cobb Planning Commission. Site plan changes are listed as “Other Business” items on the agenda of the Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing.
