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DEL.ICIO.USStrip mall central needs caring leaders
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I thought Lilburn Square was bad.
Gwinnett Station, off car-clogged Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth, might give the square a run for its money. The Station’s saving grace is its brown, bricklike facade. Makes it look sophisticated — from a distance.
Pull in. Look closer.
What we got here is just another bad-looking strip mall.
In August, Kroger bailed for Reynolds Crossing, a spark-ling center off Steve Reynolds Boulevard. Plywood covers up the oval Kroger sign in the Gwinnett Station marquee. Someone paid attention to detail:The plywood fits the oval perfectly.
Now ifonly someone would pay equal attention to the strip mall itself. The bays in the parking lot where Kroger customers returned their shopping carts are still intact. So are a few shopping carts. The interior of some of the vacant suites looks like someone took aim with a sledgehammer.
Supercuts has relocated. Gone, too, are a music store, a tailoring shop, a Mexican restaurant and an interior design business. Gone, I’d imagine, for the same reason as Kroger — for space that’s bigger, brighter and, possibly, in a better location.
Michelle Iordache owns K&S, a tailoring and shoe repair business that relocated from Gwinnett Station to Reynolds Crossing.
“Kroger moved. So I moved,” she told me.
Gwinnett Station is hurting primarily because a big-box retailer (Kroger) jumped ship. Other businesses in the complex followed suit. It’s an exercise of the free market that strip malls in the western part of the county keep falling victim to.
Unfortunately, the people who could help stop the hemorrhaging — chamber officials, developers, investors and our government — are looking farther north and east. They’ve turned a blind eye to troubled commercial areas in Norcross, Duluth, Lilburn and Lawrenceville.
Even if they attended to those areas, we still might have a Gwinnett Station. It wouldn’t linger, though, and there wouldn’t be so many of them around here. If leaders cared, the departure of a big-box retailer wouldn’t necessarily signal doom for any strip mall in the western part of the county.
And if they cared, we wouldn’t need community improvement districts, those associations trying to enhance areas like Gwinnett Place mall and Gwinnett Village, which takes in a larger number of some of the most run-down strip malls in the county.
But the reality of it is that, in Gwinnett, aka strip mall central, they don’t care. So we need community improvement districts. Somebody’s got to step up. Look at our community. Too often, we are left with eyesores such as Gwinnett Station and Lilburn Square.
Dozens of others exist, and readers have helped me compile a list of our county’s dingiest and dirtiest mini-malls. I plan to write about them periodically during the year.
Iordache, the owner of the tailoring and shoe repair business, said she has no regrets about following Kroger’s lead.
“Gwinnett Station looks horrible,” she told me. “I feel so sorry for the people who are still there.”
Me, too.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Bruce Wilcox
March 7, 2006 08:47 AM | Link to this
I said it before when discussing the Gwinnett Village concept, if the county leaders don’t start paying attention to the older sections the problem will continue to spread. The downfall of JCB was the leap of the big retailers to Pleasant Hill, now we see it happening again.
When a commerical district goes down the tubes, the neighborhoods will slowly follow and crime will increase, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.
Too bad the county leaders can’t seem to grasp the concept. With people moving back to Atlanta because of the traffic a renaissance is taking place downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. How far can you run before it catches up with you in Gwinnett?
By Janet
March 7, 2006 09:00 AM | Link to this
This is the fault not of Kroger or other big box retailers, but of the planning commission and county commission members who “rubber stamp” the rezoning requests and site plans for these strip malls. In Lilburn, we are literally dotted with strip malls with boarded up windows and empty spaces. On the corner of Indian Trail and Steve Reynolds is a perfect example of a strip mall on the verge of being abandoned, with several spaces already vacated and boarded up. Directly across the street, a brand new strip mall is under construction. The same thing is happening on Pleasant Hill.
Our county leaders and planners have dropped the ball and they need to be called on it. If you want change, you have to participate in government. When you see the yellow rezoning sign go up, get the number, look it up on the Gwinnett County planning commission web site and go to the meeting. Stand up and voice your opposition. If enough people would do this, things would change. Unfortunately, there are many, many empty seats at these meetings because the citizens of Gwinnett are not doing their civic duty and participating and voicing their opinions. It’s not enough to vote, you have to get involved with the nuts and bolts of the daily activities of your government. After all, it’s not only “for the people” it’s also “by the people”.
By Janet
March 7, 2006 09:02 AM | Link to this
This is the fault not of Kroger or other big box retailers, but of the planning commission and county commission members who “rubber stamp” the rezoning requests and site plans for these strip malls. In Lilburn, we are literally dotted with strip malls with boarded up windows and empty spaces. On the corner of Indian Trail and Steve Reynolds is a perfect example of a strip mall on the verge of being abandoned, with several spaces already vacated and boarded up. Directly across the street, a brand new strip mall is under construction. The same thing is happening on Pleasant Hill.
Our county leaders and planners have dropped the ball and they need to be called on it. If you want change, you have to participate in government. When you see the yellow rezoning sign go up, get the number, look it up on the Gwinnett County planning commission web site and go to the meeting. Stand up and voice your opposition. If enough people would do this, things would change. Unfortunately, there are many, many empty seats at these meetings because the citizens of Gwinnett are not doing their civic duty and participating and voicing their opinions. It’s not enough to vote, you have to get involved with the nuts and bolts of the daily activities of your government. After all, it’s not only “for the people” it’s also “by the people”.
By Janet
March 7, 2006 09:03 AM | Link to this
This is the fault not of Kroger or other big box retailers, but of the planning commission and county commission members who “rubber stamp” the rezoning requests and site plans for these strip malls. In Lilburn, we are literally dotted with strip malls with boarded up windows and empty spaces. On the corner of Indian Trail and Steve Reynolds is a perfect example of a strip mall on the verge of being abandoned, with several spaces already vacated and boarded up. Directly across the street, a brand new strip mall is under construction. The same thing is happening on Pleasant Hill.
Our county leaders and planners have dropped the ball and they need to be called on the carpet for it. If you want change, you have to participate in government. When you see the yellow rezoning sign go up, get the number, look it up on the Gwinnett County planning commission web site and go to the meeting. Stand up and voice your opposition. If enough people would do this, things would change. Unfortunately, there are many, many empty seats at these meetings because the citizens of Gwinnett are not doing their civic duty and participating and voicing their opinions. It’s not enough to vote, you have to get involved with the nuts and bolts of the daily activities of your government. After all, our government is not only “for the people” it’s also “by the people”.
By polly
March 7, 2006 09:11 AM | Link to this
Look at Dekalb and you will see what Gwinnett will soon be. I lived in Dekalb growing up. Memorial Drive was overdeveloped and now it is horrible. I agree Janet. But when you talk to them and write them, nothing happens. If we have to do community projects, what’s the point in paying the county taxes.
By Deborah Lee
March 7, 2006 09:43 AM | Link to this
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Up, north Gwinnett Station would be one of the most beautiful strip malls. I think that it would be a fantastic mall for music. It is centrally located and convienient. The Kroger building could be the music recital hall which people could rent for their recitals. The other buildings could be rented by music teachers. It could be the beginning of a music conservatory in Gwinnett. It would take a lot of donations to get it started, but I think that with all of the children in this county there would be a lot of interest. Just a thought.
By Gatorrrrrr
March 7, 2006 10:10 AM | Link to this
I just wrote about something very similar in my own blog just the other day. And you are right Rick, there is plenty of apathy that goes around. And as far as Im concerned.. the homeowners and other citizens are as equal to blame as the business owners for much of the “blight-to-be”. It is a shame that a CID is even needed to develop any sense of pride in any community.
Gatorrrrrr http://gatorrrrrr.blogspot.com
By polly
March 7, 2006 10:52 AM | Link to this
Gatorrrr - I’m not clear on your statement about homeowners and other citizens. Just how is it that they are responsible for strip malls?
By Gatorrrrrr
March 7, 2006 02:36 PM | Link to this
I didnt mean they were necessarily responsible for strip malls… and meant more about their own up keep of their own property and just taking more pride in their community altogether.
By Kathleen
March 7, 2006 04:44 PM | Link to this
I live near Gwinnett Station and it is sad the state it’s in. The Chinese restaurant that has been there forever sits sadly alone and has taken to buying adds with coupons to try and keep people coming in. I thnk they’ll be closed soon too if they haven’t closed yet, and good-bye Zappolis pizza, I’m sure they’re gone when their lease is up. I go in there and see the same people working there I saw 5 years ago, hope they can find new jobs.
I’m also not happy about the new place Reynolds Crossing. But, I feel as if I’m in a minority. The neighbors I speak with like the new, oversized Kroger and don’t give a flip that the giant store backs right up to the neighborhood elementary school. Separated only by a row or two of skinny pine trees. I thought there were laws about selling alcohol in the vicinity of a school. There are such laws, but the distance is measured not by the distance buildings are apart, but by the distance it is from the main entrance of one building to the entrance of the other using the public right of ways.
People think the “old” Kroger was run down, well I’m telling you it won’t be long before the “new super” Kroger looks the same. Some management teams just take more pride in their stores than others.
Every parcel of land in Gwinnett seems to be available for another shopping center or the latest craze “townhomes”. I don’t really think it matters if neighborhood citizens show up at zoning meetings or not, the commission always says yes. The congestion all this development has caused discourages people from participating in the process because you know, after working all day, you’re going to spend an hour plus in your car to get across the county for the meetings.
By Janet
March 7, 2006 06:30 PM | Link to this
You can write letters to your county commissioner, send him/her emails and organize your neighbors to do the same. Also, you can contact the developer directly before their application ever goes to the planning committee to let them know you and your neighbors oppose their application and meet with them to discuss things like set backs, buffers, architectural design, etc. You cannot stop development, but you CAN have an effect. Yes, you will have to give up some of your free time and get involved, but the results are worth it.
By Kathleen
March 8, 2006 08:33 AM | Link to this
Janet, I’ve sent messages on occasion to my county commissioner about issues important to me. His response? No response. It has been my experience in talking with neighbors and others in the county that most people don’t even know what’s going on. They have no idea something big is moving in nearby or that the county is about to start charging new “storm water” fees. So it seems the decisions are being made by fewer and fewer people because most are “too busy” to find out what’s happening around them. I was one of them, but I’m starting to change.
By delois
March 8, 2006 10:31 AM | Link to this
At least Lawrenceville is taking the lead on some of the old box stores - Phoenix High School was a former box store, the former KMart is now an administrative office for Gwinnett Hospital System and the old WalMart has been taken over by the County for storage facilities. Hopefully, the Post Office will take over the empty Publix and free up the traffic situation in downtown Lawrenceville. The only question remains is what will go into Ingles when they are finally forced to close because of WalMart.
By Janet
March 8, 2006 11:53 AM | Link to this
http://www.co.gwinnett.ga.us/cgi-bin/gwincty/egov/ep/gcbrowse.do?channelId=-536881938&channelPage=%2Fep%2Fchannel%2Fdefault.jsp&pageTypeId=536880236
Here is the link to the Gwinnett County Planning Commission website. Simply click on “rezoning-sup” and then on “Applications Received”. It takes a few minutes to load, but once it’s up, most of the applications listed include the street they are on. The applications have been scanned in and they include site plans. Scroll through the list and see what’s being planned for your area. You have to get into the process during the planning stages. Once the planning commission has made it’s recommendation to the county commissioners, then the commissioners will almost always okay it.
If, however, you contact the developer and your planning commissioner prior to the application coming onto a meeting agenda, you can voice your specific objections, such as not allowing the developer to reduce the size of landscaped buffers, and even asking for a more upscale architectural design of the buildings or signs. If you inform people in your neighborhood of upcoming rezonings and can say you represent a group of voters, then county planners and commissioners will listen.
A democracy requires informed, active participation from it’s citizens to work properly. If citizens don’t stay informed and participate, then their voices are not heard and their wishes are not known or acted upon and yes, a small minority will make decisions that affect the majority. Stand up, make noise and be persistent and you will be heard.
By Ken
March 8, 2006 01:46 PM | Link to this
Hi Rick,
I’ve been eating at the Chinese restaurant in Gwinnett Station for 18 years. They’ve been there for 20. It is a very good place to eat. I hope they don’t go anywhere.
By Michael H. Smith
March 8, 2006 06:11 PM | Link to this
Lawrenceville got the luck of the draw with the county picking –up the big boxes, being the county seat has its’ perks and including no phony CID tax district. Post office to relocate at the old Publix is probably a done deal, good guess say look for more empties to fill-up around town as the city progresses with downtown plans. Something else is a foot in an annexation move on the 316 corridor/progress center area, could prove interesting. Now the question begs what if anything will this bring to our table Lawrenceville?