The October 2001 opening of The Mall at Stonecrest in Lithonia, Georgia, has spurred development in the area faster than expected. Of course, residential growth and pent up retail demand have also encouraged development in this southeast portion of DeKalb County.

Toronto-based Cadillac Fairview and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises joined to develop the 1.3 million-square-foot mall, which is located in the 1,100-acre Stonecrest development. The mixed-use development will also include approximately 2 million square feet of office space, 250,000 square feet of entertainment space and 2.5 million square feet of peripheral retail space. In addition, Cadillac Fairview is beginning to focus on developing the project’s residential component.

Cadillac Fairview purchased 1,450 acres where Stonecrest is located in 1983. The company has developed portions of the property, including the mall, and has sold approximately 350 acres for ancillary development, including 60 acres on which Euramex Development Company is currently developing a 750-unit, Class A apartment complex.

“The area has actually grown faster than we anticipated,” says Russ Kellogg, vice president of U.S. Development for Cadillac Fairview U.S. Properties in Atlanta. “Recent demographic reports show a 10-year population gain of 19.4 percent in a 10-mile radius, which is an excess of 480,000 people. We expected it would be closer to 420,000 at this time.”

“We are drawing from a larger customer base than we anticipated,” adds Alan Carlisle, senior vice president with Cadillac Fairview U.S. Properties. “Our customer base includes eight to nine counties along Interstate 20, which, from downtown Atlanta, is a quick trip to the mall because it doesn’t have the traffic congestion that the north/south corridors have.”

“We are getting traffic from as far away as Augusta and affluent areas like Lake Oconee,” says Kem Blue Jr., general manager of The Mall at Stonecrest.

“We are even getting a few tour bus operators coming in from Augusta and South Carolina. On the way in for a long weekend in Atlanta, they stop at Stonecrest,” says Blue. “They find entertainment, and they enjoy the high caliber tenant mix and exciting new restaurants all in one place.”

The Stonecrest development is 20 minutes east of downtown Atlanta, and 30 minutes from Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. More than 100,000 cars pass the development daily. “We have three interchanges that are connected together by an integral road network,” says Kellogg.

“Retailers have been impressed with the number and the quality of the residential subdivisions and average household income, which exceeds $75,000,” adds Kellogg. “Within 4 or 5 miles are a number of homes valued at $500,000 or more. The number of homes has skyrocketed from 30 homes in 1990 to 254 in 2000 — a gain of 746.7 percent. Seventy-seven of those homes are valued at $1 million or more.”

Retail Development

The Mall at Stonecrest, totaling 1.3 million square feet, was 85 percent leased at opening and is approaching a 91 percent lease rate. Surrounding the mall area, an additional 1.2 million square feet of retail space has been added, including 42 new retail tenants. Stafford Properties, Mimms Development and North American Properties have opened regional retail centers at the development. The largest peripheral development is a 285,000-square-foot power center by North American Properties. That project has Marshalls, Ross Dress For Less, DSW Shoes, Pier 1 Imports, Linens ‘N Things, Babies ‘R’ Us, PetCo and Staples. Other freestanding retailers in the area include Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, HH Gregg, Rooms To Go, Toys ‘R’ Us, Sam’s Wholesale Club and Ethan Allen. Because of the area’s rapid residential growth, these stores are expected to do particularly well.

In addition, nine restaurants have opened outside the mall, including Applebee’s, Bugaboo Creek Steak House, Olive Garden, Brusters Ice Cream, Wendy’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken/Pizza Hut and McDonald’s. Chick-fil-A opened its 1,000th restaurant at the Stonecrest development earlier this year.
A 66,319-square-foot MegaStar Cinema opened in May at The Mall at Stonecrest. The 16-screen theater has 3,200 seats and two VIP suites. The glass-enclosed suites seat 16 people each, and are rented out. Local restaurants are allowed to cater to private parties.

The theater is expected to anchor an entertainment village and anticipated 2.5 million square feet of retail development over the next 3 years. Cadillac Fairview proposes to begin developing the additional entertainment and retail portions in the fall of 2003. The project, expected to be a joint venture with an entertainment developer, will span approximately 35 acres on the west side of the mall. It will be a combination of restaurant, retail and entertainment uses in a village, water park or sports theme setting.

Expanding Beyond Retail

“We’d like to make Stonecrest more than a retail destination,” says Carlisle. “It truly does have a regional draw. We will coordinate the single-family residential and the multifamily residential, office and retail into a community.”

As a first step, an AmeriSuites Hotel has opened and a Hilton Garden Inn is under construction. Cadillac Fairview expects more hotel interest as the office component is developed. The company plans to include a four-star hotel and conference center in the development.

Cadillac Fairview expects to begin construction on single-family housing in 2003. Approximately 350 acres in the southern part of the development will be used for single-family residential development. Cadillac Fairview will serve as the master developer and will focus on single-family development in the next couple of years. “We are targeting sales prices between $200,000 and $400,000,” says Kellogg.

Further enhancing residential development, the PATH Foundation is building a path system from nearby Arabia Mountain Park along Klondike Road through the Stonecrest development into the city of Lithonia and into Stone Mountain. Additionally, Stonecrest has 110 acres of set-aside natural area with wetlands and flood plain area. “We will use that as a long linear park with pedestrian/bicycle way that connects the residential with the commercial areas so one can live in the residential area and walk or ride their bikes up to their offices and shopping,” says Carlisle.

Currently, four communities totaling 700 single-family homes are planned. Also, the company expects between 200 and 250 luxury townhomes.

Land for a proposed 100-bed regional hospital is currently under contract. If the project goes through, it will boost planned office development with medical office uses.

Cadillac Fairview may begin the first phase of office development in late 2003. The company plans two areas of office development and expects the first phase to occupy the eastern side of the Stonecrest development.

“We are talking with a couple of office developers right now to structure a deal to get a first phase going,” says Kellogg. “A second office area, which will probably will be a longer term, more mid- to high-rise corporate development will be located between Klondike and Evans Mill roads.” The two phases will total about 2 million square feet of space.

“The office market in this part of the metro Atlanta area is really fragmented. A lot of it is older office stock,” says Carlisle. “We plan to consolidate to more first class office buildings.”

He says office projects in the area will be attractive to tenants and buyers because they will be part of the Stonecrest development, they will have good access and because there is a need for call centers and similar uses, which will have access to a great population base. And, the proposed hospital will drive medical office development.

“I don’t think we’ll be totally built out in 5 years,” says Carlisle, although he added that the company may be done with residential development by then.

“We are pleased with the success of the development so far and are very excited about the prospects for continued growth,” says Kellogg. ©2002 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.