Construction continues at SunTrust Park in Cobb County. May 27, 2015. J. Scott Trubey/STAFF
The Atlanta Braves are expected to announce on Wednesday the first slate of retailers for the entertainment district adjacent to SunTrust Park, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
The ball club and its development team also has been working on a name for the $400 million mix of retail, restaurants, apartments and a performance venue.
The team has set a press conference for 1 p.m. at their season ticket sales office at 1100 Circle 75 Parkway to discuss a real estate matter.
A Braves spokeswoman declined to discuss the announcement in advance of Wednesday’s event.
The Braves have previously announced an Omni hotel and an office tower to be occupied by technology workers from Comcast. Comcast also is planning to deploy ultra-fast internet capabilities in the entertainment district and at the ballpark.
A model of SunTrust Park in the Atlanta Braves sales center. J. Scott Trubey/STAFF
At a recent brick laying ceremony, Braves marketing chief Derek Schiller wouldn’t name retailers the development team has been pursuing. He said demand has been strong. Field & Stream is one retailer said to have shown interest in the Braves development, something Schiller at the time would not confirm.
Jeff Fuqua and partner Heather Correa of Fuqua Development, the retail team involved in the project, have targeted chef-driven restaurants, bars, high-end women’s apparel companies and a grocery store.
In April, Fuqua said higher-end retailers on par with J. Crew, Anthropologie and lululemon were to be expected. Fuqua is aiming for flagship stores for new entrants and retailers that have few shops in metro Atlanta.
The Atlanta Braves and Live Nation announced a partnership on a new entertainment venue at SunTrust Park that will be known as the Roxy Theatre. Source: Atlanta Braves
The Braves this summer announced a partnership with Live Nation to open a theater under the Roxy brand, reminiscent of the former Buckhead and downtown Roxy venues. The project is also expected to have hundreds of residential units, likely rental apartments.
In May, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution attended the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas and caught up with Fuqua as he cruised the halls shopping the Braves project and other projects he has in the works.
At the time, the paper reported:
(Fuqua's) mission is to fill the entertainment district next to the new Atlanta Braves ballpark with merchants and restaurants that not only can serve throngs of fans during 81 regular season baseball games, but also draw patrons every other day of the year.
The deadline is immovable: first pitch is just 23 months away.
"We're going to make it. We talk about it every single day," said Fuqua, 53 but a decade younger according to his hairline and boyish visage.
On Monday and Tuesday, the veteran metro Atlanta retail developer and his team crisscrossed acres of convention floor and miles between hotels and restaurants for 78 meetings with brokers, lawyers and some of the world's most-prominent retailers to talk up the Braves site and others he has underway.
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