As metro Atlanta continues its headlong drive toward progress, up-scaling and gentrification, there’s sure to be roadkill.
The latest body found on the side of the street is the Bagel Palace, an old-fashioned deli and bakery that served up Reuben sandwiches, egg salad and, of course, its circular namesake. The popular restaurant in the Toco Hill (or Hills, as most prefer) shopping center closed suddenly Sunday after its owners decided the new rent demands were extortionate.
It wasn’t really surprising. A development company took over a few years back and has been sprucing up the DeKalb County strip mall built in 1956, when Ike ran for his second term.
“We were an institution,” said Manny Klein, co-owner of the Palace since 1993. “Modernization is OK. But people want something that’s comfortable. We were family.”
The new management company, Edens, wanted to double the rent, he said.
Sixty-two years is an eon when it comes to a mall, so an upgrade was badly needed. The new proprietors fixed drainage, re-engineered the parking lot, re-roofed the buildings, landscaped the land and set out colorful chairs on walkways near businesses to give the complex a mod and airy feel.
All this costs money, which, of course, would be spread among the tenants. But the ongoing effort seems more like a cultural and eco-demographic re-envisioning than a mere property reboot.
Edens, a South Carolina company that owns and runs developments across the country, has locked down much of Toco Hill in a long-term lease from Atlanta's Shepherd family, which has owned the property since the start.
I couldn’t get a hold of the folks from Edens. So I’ll let the company’s effusive website speak for them: “Our purpose is to enrich community through human engagement. … We lead with our people, who create our culture. Places are the canvas in which we design and curate meaningful experiences.”
Nowhere does it reference making a buck. But for a glimpse of some of the Edens’ “meaningful curation,” let’s go to Maggie’s, a Toco Hill tavern one might call “a neighborhood joint,” a dark place with pool tables and a Jägermeister machine.
Maggie’s is about 25 years old (Maggie is gone) and a tavern has been there since at least the ’70s. Customers appreciate that it’s one of the few places left where you can take a drag on a cigarette while contemplating your suds.
A couple of graying, pony-tailed denizens at the bar talked about the circle of life. "Every 50 years, everything changes in life; we're seeing one of those changes," pronounced a fellow from his bar stool. He seemed actively offended when I asked his name. "To build a community, you have to destroy a community."
Edens is creating a new community. The smoking and drinking sanctuary that is Maggie's is now sandwiched between a Chopt Creative Salad Company and a Pilates studio. Soon to come is a kale emporium and a rolled-up ice cream joint, businesses that will accompany Spiller Park's "artisan coffee" and Local Pizzaiolo's "authentic Neapolitan pizza."
“Pilates?” the second pony-tailed patron asked with a lemon-sucking scowl. “That’s crazy.”
Ivan Faulkenberry, the tavern’s co-owner, laughed at the idea of his healthy neighbors: “I don’t think we’ll get a lot of clients from the Pilates place or Chopt.”
I spoke with Faulkenberry in a new office thrown up (the wallboard remains unpainted) in the back of his establishment. Faulkenberry has a lease until 2024 but said the new managers made him build an office on the premises so they can audit his books on a moment’s notice.
“They want to run us out,” he said. “They told us there was no place for a bar in a first-class shopping center. They have indicated they’d try to get me out by 2024.
“I don’t think it’s personal,” Faulkenberry said. “It’s just part of their business strategy.”
Klein, the Bagel Palace guy, thinks similarly.
“I’m not blaming them,” Klein said. “It’s all on the computer. It’s all about statistics. When a corporation takes over, they have a computer looking at the numbers.”
The numbers say the tide is rising, with household incomes at $100,000 within a 3-mile radius from Toco Hill, according to Edens. Everywhere near the mall is red clay scraped clear of trees, with signs erected to tout town homes and houses “From the 500s!” or higher.
If there’s a price of improvement, it’s $1. That’s what Frances Indianto, owner of Chris’ Pizza, said he has added to the price of his $8.25 gyro. Or you could say $10,000, which is the monthly rent he said he is about to start paying. It was $4,000 just three years ago.
Chris’ Pizza has been around since 1983, serving up Greek and Italian food. Indianto, the owner for a decade, is not necessarily happy with the other pizza place coming in, but he said the new mix of restaurants has boosted his business by 20 percent.
“In the beginning, I think they wanted to kick me out, but I changed my mindset,” he said. “My regular customers are getting old. I’m now 50 percent younger generation.”
He has hired a consultant and a marketer, he is doing more social media, and he’s touting locally grown and more organic food. It’s not what I look for when craving a gyro. But if it hooks millennials, God love him.
Indianto is an Indonesian Catholic who emigrated to the U.S. in 2000 because of violence to Christians. He started in this country washing dishes and knowing just two words of English.
When he bought Chris’ Pizza in 2008, he agreed to keep the current owners. His two right-hand employees are an Afghanistani and a Russian Jew, with 60-plus years between them at the restaurant. They taught the Indonesian how to cook Greek. And Italian.
“That’s what America is all about,” he said. “I’m here pursuing my dream.”
If he can just make the rent.
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