Southeast Management Co., the retail plaza's developer, is banking on a potential customer base of 30,000 daily workers at nearby Wachovia Bank, the Delta Air Lines headquarters building and other corporate offices. The Virginia Avenue center will house two restaurants and four retail shops.

The impetus for the project came from a $75,000 grant the town received through the Atlanta Regional Commission to study blighted areas and create a master development plan, city officials confirm to GlobeSt.com. The report studied the Old Second Ward near Virginia Park on Virginia Avenue and South Central Avenue and concluded the area needed and could support more retailers and other businesses.

Officials in nearby College Park are also studying the potential economic impact to their area if new commercial-related pedestrian and vehicular traffic arrived on Virginia Avenue. The city council, meanwhile, has created the Virginia Avenue Neighborhood Commercial District for possible near-future activity.

Hapeville generated headlines early last year when Georgia state development officials confirmed the Dearborn, MI-based automaker was looking for a new plant. Ford officials later conceded they were scouting the Atlanta area for fresh real estate but had made no decision on purchasing any land.

To interest Ford in building a new plant, the Georgia Properties Commission at one time had an option to buy about 1,500 acres from Jefferson Lamar Banks but let the option expire, area industrial brokers tell GlobeSt.com.

A workforce of 2,322 at the 56-year-old Hapeville plant makes the Mercury Sable and Ford Taurus at its 128-acre, 2.3-million-sf plant which has an annual payroll of $150 million, according to the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism.

Instant Insights /

Ford Plant Suburb Getting Estimated $1M Retail Plaza

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