The stretch of U.S. 411 near the East Rome Wal-Mart is on track to become a premiere retail corridor, based on emerging real estate deals.
Three retail development companies have staked out claims on all corners surrounding the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 825 U.S. 411.
Click here for Google map to the church.
The most ambitious project could come from The Sembler Co., which has a contract on the corner spot — at U.S. 411 and Callier Springs Road — where Dayspring Assembly of God presently sits, said the church’s pastor the Rev. Robert Anderson.
“This corridor is going to be nothing but retail all they way down it. We didn’t want the church to be crunched in between all the retail stores,” Anderson said of the decision to sell.
The St. Petersburg, Fla., company is blazing a trail through the metro-Atlanta development scene, with at least eight large shopping centers either completed or in the works.
Target, Publix, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Best Buy are among their anchor tenants.
Efforts to reach The Sembler Co. officials Friday were unsuccessful.
Anderson said the deal might allow his church to rebuild — most likely in East Rome — without having to borrow money.
Marion Whittle, a real-estate agent with Reese and Smallwood of Rome, said she is talking with a neighboring property owner about combining that site with the church land to create a 50-acre tract for development.
“It provides an opportunity for Rome to have some of the major businesses and retail establishments that we have long been waiting for,” Whittle said.
She declined to provide store names but said the lineup could include nationally based big-box retailers.
Testing of soil at the sites and obtaining the necessary government permits must occur before the land is sold, she said.
Other deals near Wal-Mart
Across the street near Wal-Mart, the owners of 37 acres of land plan to sign a contract this week with an Alabama-based developer that specializes in retail shopping centers, said Kevin Evans, whose father, Donald, is among the would-be sellers.
Evans said all of the land fronts U.S. 411 and extends from the Wal-Mart intersection to the north, across from Tractor Supply Co.
The firm negotiating with the Evanses and adjacent property owner Rome Land Co. sports an impressive retail portfolio, with Rave Motions Pictures as a common anchor at its developments.
His family’s business, Evans Construction Co. of Rome, is presently installing a driveway leading into the tract from U.S. 411.
“It’s very hot over there right now,” Evans said of retail interest along the corridor U.S. 411. “I think development (along the highway) will eventually be all retail — from the bypass all the way in (to Rome) on 411,” he said.
Jim Arp owns about 20 acres next door to and east of the church, just across the highway from Wal-Mart.
Arp said he is working with the Atlanta-based retail development firm BroCo Properties LLC to investigate potential uses of his property.
Bill and Charles Mixon, owners of BroCo Properties, are keeping their plans for the Arp tract close to the vest.
The 52-year-old twin brothers have worked in the development business for more than 20 years and presently own about nine retail properties scattered across the Southeast.
“There appears to be enough interest that we have a number options,” Charles Mixon said.
But the buzz of real-estate speculation along the corridor begs the question: What type of new retailers could Rome attract?
National retailers on their way?
John Ivester is vice president and broker of Martin’s Real Estate & Development Co.
Martin owns more than 40 acres of land fronting U.S. 411, between Wal-Mart and the bypass. His land holdings include a 25-acre tract adjacent to the Arp property.
Ivester said a Houston-based development firm considered building an 80,000-square-foot Sports Authority on the Arp land but decided the property was too small for their needs.
Developers who acquire large tracts on U.S. 411 stand the best chance of developing large retail sites with multiple tenants, Ivester said. But even with the land secured, attracting large nationally based retailers to Rome seems unlikely right now, he said.
“I think we are probably five years away from that,” he said.
“Rome is going to have to grow some to get there. We need more rooftops before those retailers come,” he said. “That’s why we are not any big hurry to develop our land.”
But big-name retailers are showing renewed interest in the city, Evans said.
“Four or five years ago, we were in Target’s five-year development plan. That time is here,” he said.
Bill Mixon, co-owner of the Atlanta development firm, echoed Evans’ view.
“Y’all are there,” he said.
Retail developers are interested in Rome because of its high-quality medical and educational institutions, as well as the demographics of the local and regional market, he said.
“There are a lot of towns around the South that would envy Rome,” Mixon said. “We think it is an oasis in Northwest Georgia.”
