A vacant big-box retail store on Holcomb Bridge Road is reopening as a multi-use worship and event venue after a $28 million redevelopment.
Eagles Nest Church will hold the grand opening of its new permanent home at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 6, at 2342 Holcomb Bridge Road, according to a release from the church.
The celebration, called “The CrossOver,” marks the completion of a project that converted about 80,000 square feet of former Kohl’s retail space into an auditorium seating more than 1,000 people, along with children’s and student areas and flexible event space.
The building had sat vacant for nearly a decade and had become an unofficial parking area for tractor-trailers before the redevelopment began.
The $28 million figure includes the site’s acquisition cost and its full renovation. Organizers said the venue is meant to be used seven days a week, hosting weddings, graduations, conferences, meetings, concerts, corporate training sessions and community gatherings in addition to religious services. The church will begin renting out the spaces for events this fall.
The project is the first phase of development on the roughly 16-acre campus. Future phases are expected to include Class A retail, dining, family-oriented businesses and a daycare partner.
“We did not simply see an empty building. We saw possibility,” said Lee Jenkins, founder and senior pastor of Eagles Nest Church. “This is about taking a space that had gone quiet and giving it a new life and new purpose. We are building a ‘nest’ where people can worship on Sunday, but also a place where this community can come together and celebrate major moments 365 days a year. That is what makes this investment so meaningful.”
Jenkins, a Roswell resident of nearly 25 years, spent 25 years as a Wall Street wealth manager, including as a vice president of investments at Morgan Stanley and Raymond James, before entering full-time ministry, according to the release.
Eagles Nest Church started in 2012 with a small group meeting in a DoubleTree hotel ballroom. Over the next 14 years, the congregation held services in several temporary locations, including Andretti Karting and Games, a business office park, the Phase Family Center, and the auditorium and gymnasium at Centennial High School.
“For 14 years, we learned that a church is not defined by the building it occupies,” Jenkins said. “This redevelopment has always been central to the Eagles Nest vision. We see this campus becoming an epicenter for how we connect with, serve and grow alongside our community.”
