Business & Tech

Prospect Park's New Owner Wants Community Input on Design, Name

North American Properties will take a design tour of West Coast centers to get ideas about the retail experience.

The new owners of the Prospect Park property on Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta are going on tour, and they want you to know about it, posting on Facebook and Twitter to keep local residents informed. They also want community input on the development and its name.

North American Properties staff will take a four-day design tour of eight of the West Coast's most innovative experiential retail centers, according to Mark Toro, managing partner for the company's Atlanta office.

Arboretum at Great Hills, Austin, TX
The Domain, Austin, TX
Kierland Commons, Scottsdale, AZ
Scottsdale Quarter, Scottsdale, AZ
Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA
The Grove, Los Angeles, CA
The Americana at Brand, Glendale, CA
Santana Row, San Jose, CA

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"We actually came up with the idea when we were interviewing a general manger that we brought on to run Atlantic Station," said Toro. "He has a depth of experience in a style of retail that we call experiential."

The experiential uses concepts more akin to the hospitality industry, with valets, ambassadors and other interpersonal relationships like what would be seen in a restaurant or hotel that Toro said are not typical to a retail center.

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"There's probably not a property in Atlanta that approaches the level of quality experience that The Grove in Los Angeles or Santana Row in San Jose provide. So we are going far afield to borrow from their toolkit and bring an experience unlike anything we've seen here," he said.

The North American Properties executives will study operations and design as well, looking at parking, signage, retailers and all the other things expected.

Toro said this product or concept doesn't exist in Atlanta.

They'll study a few on the East Coast in October, but they won't reveal those sites yet.

"We will be on the road all next week," Toro said.

The design tour and call for input is the company's first foray into the community.

"We have yet to reach out to the community. We just closed three weeks ago," he said.

North American Properties reached out to the Midtown community when it bought Atlantic Station at the end of 2010. Toro said the community provided a lot of feedback on what they wanted the company to provide on things including retail and parking deck design.

When we bought Atlantic Stations at the end of last year, we reached out to the Midtown community and got a lot of feedback on what they are seeking for us to provide.

"But we're in that same mode in Alpharetta, and this is our first contact," he said.

Even the name is open to discussion.

"We are interested in understanding what the Alpharetta resident's perspective is on the name Prospect Park and what is the connotation," Toro said.

They want to know if it is negative or positive, and if the name holds some meaning to its prospective visitors.

"And if it does, we would consider keeping it. And if it's not, it's a new day and we'd have the opportunity to change that," he said.

"I think we would like to get as much feedback from as many people as are interested in providing feedback," he said.

North American Properties has a vehicle at its disposal that hadn't been available in before.

"At Atlantic Station, social media was extremely effective vehicle for soliciting community input. We know we've got a very active Facebook and Twitter crowd in North Fulton, and we are hopeful that they engage," Toro said. "They can follow us every step of the way."

The site plan will change, but most of the grading is likely to be usable with minor modifications.

"The parking deck is unlikely to be reused. It's likely to be demolished," Toro said. "Those designs are underway. We're just now getting pencil to paper, based on this tour and what we hear from the community. We want to start with an open mind."

Toro said North American Properties obviously had something in mind when it negotiated for the property, but it's likely that plans now will start from scratch.

Completion of Westside Parkway is still in the works.

"We are working with the city to get Westside Parkway open at the earliest possible date," Toro said.

When asked if the completion of the last piece of that road could happen before construction on the property, Toro said yes.

North American Properties has talked to Berry Properties, the owner of the acreage immediately adjacent to GA 400 on the site's eastern side, but no plan has been made or discussed.

"We are talking to them. They are our neighbors," Toro said, but added that it's really early.


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