Grocery store also being courted for shopping center

Now that the Peachtree City Council has agreed to sell two roads that will become part of a new shopping center on the south side of Ga. Highway 54 West, Capital City Development is working on securing retailers for the site.

CCD is allowed to petition for as many as three stores of up to 50,000 square feet under the development agreement approved by council. Because that’s above the city’s 32,000 square foot threshold under its big box ordinance, CCD will have to get special permission from the City Council.

CCD’s Doug McMurrain said this week that he doesn’t see the need to build smaller shops, given that his smaller shops across the highway have about a 20 percent vacancy rate despite the fact that they’re relatively brand new.

“If I could do zero small shops I would. It’s just not prudent,” McMurrain said.

McMurrain’s 14-acre tract is located at the southwest corner of Hwy. 54 and Planterra Way.

Further complicating the smaller store mix on Hwy. 54 West is the Shoppes at Village Piazza shopping center that’s going in directly across from the entrance to the Wynnmeade subdivision. That development will contain 148,000 square feet of shops, with all buildings staying under the 32,000 square foot threshold.

Capital City Development has agreed to buy Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Court for at least $500,000 and more if the property appraisal comes back higher. If the appraisal is higher, the city council has said it wants to swap property with McMurrain to make up the difference while also protecting the city’s Line Creek Nature Area, which was deeded to the city years ago by Pathway Communities.

McMurrain said he was pursuing three national retailers for the larger stores and a possible fourth tenant, which would be a grocery store.

Capital City Development is hoping to have a mix of soft goods, i.e. apparel, and hard goods in addition to the grocery store, McMurrain said. No leases have been signed yet, McMurrain said, so he can’t reveal what companies he’s seeking to fill the as-yet unsized stores on the site.

McMurrain added that he’d like to stay away from small stores completely if he can,

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