It appears that the timetable for beginning demolition of the heart of the old Buckhead Village is going to be delayed from the originally announced start date of early summer until September of this year.

Developer Ben Carter recently announced the new start time to the Buckhead Rotary Club. Earlier this year, he had said he anticipated the demolition to begin in early Summer of this year.

The first phase of the $850 million redeveloped mixed-use Buckhead Avenues project will include a 225-room hotel, 360 multifamily units and 350,000 square feet of retail space, according to the founder and chairman of Ben Carter Properties LLC.

The first phase will be roughly bounded by Pharr, Peachtree and East Paces Ferry Roads and North Fulton Drive. Phase I should be completed by November 2009.

Carter told the Rotarians his organization is scouring a list of 250 top retailers for the overall 860,475-square-foot project that will span seven city blocks over 7.2 acres.

Carter has paid top dollar for some of the parcels he has pieced together from 22 owners. He has paid top dollar for some of those parcels, including nearly $700 per square foot for five small East Paces Ferry parcels in February. He also paid nearly $500 per square foot for the HiFi Buys site. However, most of the parcels have been bought in the $300 to $400 range.

Selig employees benefit

from shopping center sale

Excelsior LaSalle Property Fund Inc. agreed on May 15 to buy an interest in 310,000-square-foot The District at Howell Mill shopping center, which is anchored by Wal-Mart, for $68.5 million. Those interests belonged to key officers and employees of Selig Enterprises Inc., which developed the center at Howell Mill Road and I-75 last year.

Although Selig family members and employees have sold their interest in the shopping center, Selig Enterprises remains in the deal.

Selig periodically forms these partnerships to benefit its partners and key personnel, which helps the company retain its key employees.

Selig Enterprises will continue to lease the center, but LaSalle will manage it.

Peachtree Hills Place opens

12,300-square-foot center

Peachtree Hills Place developer Isakson-Barnhart opened a $3 million, 12,300-square-foot, three-story sales center for the residential development for people over age 62.

The center, located at the corner of Peachtree Hills Avenue and Virginia Place in Buckhead, has two full-sized model homes.

Peachtree Hills Place eventually will include 274 independent residences (266 villas and eight single family homes) and 36 nursing and memory care suites.

Chef Paul Albrecht, of Pano’s and Paul’s fame, will open four restaurants in the community.

Police Foundation seeks to

strengthen ties to business

Atlanta Police Foundation President Dave Wilkinson told the Buckhead Business Association at its May 24 meeting about the redirected mission of the foundation from being a supplementary funding organization to being the premier driver of public safety in Atlanta.

He said he refocused the foundation to align with “inclusiveness,” a core value of the Secret Service where he had a 22 year career. Wilkinson said this means linking arms with business and community leaders in a meaningful way, and goes under the name “Operation Shield.”

Two initiatives undertaken by the foundation are to link up with private security guards and COMNET, a radio frequency now available to private security guards that can notify them of a crime at the same time the police are notified.

–John Schaffner