Seven new food and retail businesses have been announced for The Forum in Peachtree Corners

The Forum reveals new businesses, guest amenities at carnival-themed soiree

By Arlinda Smith Broady

Ever since North American Properties(NAP) purchased The Forum, a Peachtree Corners retail destination that had suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has delivered on its promise to make the outdoor mall a lifestyle destination. 

The next phase of that plan was showcased Thursday, Aug. 8, as NAP and Nuveen Real Estate (Nuveen) hosted a community celebration unveiling The Forum Peachtree Corners’ newest amenities and announcing the arrival of new businesses.

If that weren’t already cause for celebration, the ticketed event, Celebrate The Forum, raised nearly $7,000 for Neighborhood Cooperative Ministries, a local nonprofit dedicated to providing emergency assistance to families in need.

Highlights included the property’s new central focal point: a 6,650-square-foot turfed plaza, complete with a raised performance stage, a 17-foot by 10-foot LED screen, soft seating and tables and an optional valet service area. 

Now that it’s completed, The Plaza is designed to be The Forum’s main area for the more than 100 events held onsite annually. According to NAP management, visitors can enjoy the open-air greenspace to lounge and mingle with neighbors when it’s not in use. 

A new breezeway with public restrooms (located at the base of the office building near Pottery Barn) was also revealed, creating a more pedestrian-friendly throughway between the parking lot behind the building and the heartbeat of the property.

“[The] celebration was the culmination of many team members’ hard work and the beginning of something really special for the Peachtree Corners community,” said Charlotte Hinton, The Forum’s marketing manager. “We love this city and are ecstatic about introducing a larger, top-notch space for enjoying events and making memories together.”

Although guests received a sneak peek at the new restaurant coming to the space, the official ribbon-cutting took place Friday, Aug. 9, with Peachtree Corners Mayor Mike Mason and several members of the Peachtree Corners City Council on hand, including Weare Gratwick, Phil Sadd, Alex Wright, Joe Sawyer, Eric Christ, and Ora B. Douglass.

Sushi concept Sei Ryu will occupy the standalone jewel box situated in The Plaza.

After gaining 15 years of experience at chef-driven restaurants in Las Vegas and Boston, and locally at MF Bar Avalon and Sushi Mito, Chef Ranno Wuyan has decided to fully demonstrate his understanding and passion for sushi by opening a concept of his own, according to the release. 

Sei Ryu, a high-end Japanese restaurant specializing in appetizers and sushi – including omakase service, available by reservation only – will feature a Zen-like atmosphere with four distinct dining areas: a cocktail bar, a sushi bar, an indoor dining room, and rooftop patio overlooking The Plaza. 

More food, beverage choices

According to the news release, Chef Ranno adheres to the Japanese concept of Ichigo ichie, meaning to cherish each encounter as it may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. His menu will include items such as teppanyaki, premium A5 wagyu, bluefin tuna, seasonal offerings, and vegetarian and gluten-free options. 

All food will be prepared using top-quality ingredients sourced globally, with a particular emphasis on seafood from Toyosu Market in Tokyo, one of the largest fish markets in the world. 

The team also plans to regularly host activities like tuna-cutting shows and sake tastings to enhance the guest experience.

Sei Ryu will serve lunch and dinner. Chef Ranno and his business partner Tai Nguyen aim to open the restaurant by the Chinese New Year in late January 2025. Erica Nguyen with eXp Commercial represented Chef Ranno in the lease transaction.

But wait, there’s more.

According to NAP, Golestan, a new and innovative restaurant from the Naraghi family and Jamshad Jaamy Zarnegar, will also join The Forum’s food and beverage lineup. It embraces the rich traditions of Persian hospitality. 

Golestan, a famous collection of prose and stories from influential 15th-century poet Saadi Shirazi, translates to “flower or rose garden.” Playing off this theme, the restaurant will draw inspiration from ancient Persian architecture and culture in its overall design, creating a casual fine dining ambiance that feels timeless and contemporary. 

Located in the former California Pizza Kitchen, the team plans to transform the 5,175-square-foot space into a trendy, welcoming environment where diners can visit multiple times a week and have a fresh experience every time. 

An open kitchen will allow guests to witness the artistry behind traditional Persian fare, with a special emphasis on high-quality ingredients and a sophisticated presentation of each signature dish. The new establishment also plans to offer an international wine program, carefully curated by Zarnegar to complement the flavorful menu.

New retail, personal services additions 

In addition, NAP has signed new leases with several other brands, including national fashion retailer J.Crew Factory (opening in October)and beauty and personal care studio LaserAway. Sandie Cappai, owner of local home goods store Cappai Designs, has also signed a six-month license agreement to open a pop-up at The Forum in September. Cappai has operated multiple successful pop-ups at Avalon since 2020.

 “We’re aiming to strike the right balance of both familiar and new brands as we continue re-merchandising The Forum into Downtown Peachtree Corners’ go-to spot for shopping, dining, and all the little moments in between,” said Brooke Massey, NAP director of leasing in a written statement.  “It’s exciting to feel that energetic buzz throughout the property, and we have even more on the horizon.” 

Since taking over leasing responsibilities at The Forum in March 2022, NAP has signed 38 deals with new and existing tenants, including still-to-come Nando’s Peri-Peri, Politan Row at The Forum, Sucré, and The NOW Massage.

Information: https://theforumpeachtree.com/

Peachtree Corners will soon lose one of its most iconic, popular and tasty businesses.

Peterbrooke Chocolatier, run by Geoffrey Wilson and Scott Gottuso, has been told by Peachtree Forum landlords, North American Properties and Nuveen Real Estate, that its lease will not be renewed. The last day of business will be July 25.

Meanwhile, Peachtree Forum is getting several new stores. They include Kendra Scott, Sucre, and The NOW Massage. Previously announced were Alloy Personal Training, Cookie Fix, Gallery Anderson Smith, Giulia, Lovesac, Nando’s Peri-Peri and Stretchlab. Wilson adds: “We are not in their big picture.”

Wilson has operated Peterbrooke at the Peachtree Forum for 14 years and Gottuso has been there nine years. They have made the chocolatier profitable and doubled sales. Wilson says: “We turned it around through community involvement and made relationships. We worked with the schools, gave donations, did a lot in the community, and made a difference. We produce most everything we sell in the shop, so it’s labor intensive. We make European-style chocolate treats from scratch from the very best ingredients, package it, make gift baskets, and also sell a lot of gelato.”

Key items include truffles, hand-made caramels, cherry cordials, chocolate-covered cookies and pretzels and strawberries hand-dipped in their own blend of chocolates. (They are all good!) One of Wilson’s and Gottuso’s most iconic products is chocolate popcorn. Once you try it, regular popcorn is tasteless. “We sell a lot of it.” Wilson adds: “Gelato sales have carried us in the summertime, since there are not many chocolate holidays in the summer.”

Peterbrooke now has five employees, and would like to have 10, but it is difficult to hire people with the skills in chocolatiering. A key part of its business is corporate companies, such as Delta Air Lines and Capital Insight. The Peachtree Corners’ Peterbrooke has corporate customers as far away as Cleveland, Ohio.

The operators were surprised when the Forum owners did not renew its five year lease. “The big decisions were made in Charlotte or Cincinnati, not locally,” Wilson feels. “We were no longer in their big picture. They want new and glitzy, shiny, fancy and trendy.”

The operators plan to start their own chocolate company, to be called “Scoffrey,” and initially sell online, plus have pop-up locations during holidays, and possibly have a booth in other merchants’ stores on occasions.

“Whatever we do would look different. We might rent a space somewhere close by so that people can still have the good chocolate experience with us, but we won’t have a regular audience walking by.”

Another element: the price of chocolate futures has spiked this year, with a bad crop production year. Wilson says: “That is key to our business and a huge cost increase. That doesn’t help.”

Wilson adds that the forced closing of the Peterbrooke location “is something like the death of a friend. But you go to the funeral and to the wake, and in six months or a year, It won’t be so bad.”

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Written by Elliott Brack

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City Councilman Alex Wright talks about developers wants versus residents needs and preferences.

NOTE: This article has been updated on July 27, 2023, at 4:36 pm.

Economic development doesn’t seem to take a holiday in Peachtree Corners. While many are enjoying the lazy days of summer, deals are in the works to upgrade some areas that have remained stagnant and refresh others into more modern spaces.

City Councilman Alex Wright recently shed light on a few changes in the works.

Land behind Chase has a buyer

The three acres of undeveloped land behind the Chase Bank on Highway 141 is owned by a man named Charlie Roberts, who at one time owned all of what is now the Town Center, according to Wright in the newsletter he distributes occasionally.

Roberts had planned to sell the land to North American Properties (NAP) last fall as part of its ‘Downtown Peachtree Corners’ project with The Forum redevelopment as its crown jewel.

However, due to increased lending costs, NAP did not have the funds to purchase the land, added Wright.

With the assumption that NAP was purchasing the property, City Council approved rezoning the parcels for apartments. And even though that deal didn’t come to fruition, the new zoning designation remains in place.

“The property was rezoned on August 23, 2022,” said Peachtree Corners Communications Director Louis E. Svehla. “The city does not dictate ownership, so any new builder can proceed with construction in accordance with the ordinance conditions of 2022. However, any substantive change from the ordinance conditions would require a change that goes before the City Council at a hearing.”

This isn’t the first time Roberts tried to sell that property to developers who wanted to build apartments.

“About a decade ago, the land bordered by Highway 141, Peachtree Corners Circle and Medlock Bridge Road was just woods,” said Wright. “Mr. Roberts owned the vast majority of it. …He sold that to a company who builds apartments and houses. This was right after the city was formed and the property had been zoned for apartments.”

The city didn’t want apartments there and ended up purchasing the property that is now Town Center. Back in 2016, Roberts made a deal with the city that another developer would build apartments and a hotel, so the city granted a zoning ordinance for apartments that expired after four years.

“He had to have stuff coming out of the ground within four years,” Wright explained. “COVID came and that deal fell through because hotels were not doing so great.”

With the four years expired, the zoning reverted back to its original zoning which was commercial. “There wasn’t a lot of demand for commercial development at the time, also because of COVID. So, he just sits on it and then several years passed,” Wright continued.

NAP enters the picture

When North American Properties came along with a vision to turn the Town Center complex and The Forum into Downtown Peachtree Corners, city officials bought into the idea of more foot traffic and more people living on site. Now Roberts had a buyer for his “white elephant.”

“Shortly thereafter, the Federal Reserve started to raise interest rates fairly aggressively to try to tame inflation,” said Wright. “That made borrowing more expensive; that was the case for North American Properties.”

Although he didn’t hear this directly from NAP management, Wright said he believes that was the case. He added that NAP probably paid more for The Forum than it had originally budgeted since it was such a desirable project.

Again, Roberts has property he wants to sell. But this time, he doesn’t have to go through the process of getting it rezoned. 

“With several apartment projects locally stalling due to increased borrowing costs and data pointing to the apartments nationwide being overbuilt, I have been curious to see if and when Mr. Roberts would be able to unload this property,” Wright wrote in his newsletter.

“It appears that he now has a buyer — Terwilliger Pappas,” Wright added. “Speculation is that any project would be branded under Solis with a closing date estimated for end of [July].”

Possible changes at Jones Bridge Square

A few months ago, at a City Council work session, the city manager said the owner of Jones Bridge Square shopping center approached him about a redesign for the property, according to Wright.
The owner said Ingles Market said it may be open to working with him regarding to redevelopment, even if it meant the store had a smaller footprint, Wright added.

“I’m paraphrasing, but they basically like what’s going on at the Town Center and want to be a part of that,” said Wright. “Instead of just being a shopping center with all this space that’s unused, they want to put in some things that bring a kind of synergy, if you will, with what’s already there.”

Wright explained further that with the pedestrian bridge, there’s a growing desire to be nearer to where things are happening. Comparing what’s going on at The Forum to many European cities, Wright said that it’s human nature to seek a gathering spot and build things around it.

Opportunity for senior living option

“I don’t know much about the grocery store business, but from what [City Manager] Brian Johnson was telling us, they’ve got about twice as much space as they’d like. Apparently, the thing in grocery stores now is smaller,” said Wright. “This might be an opportunity to redesign the whole place.”

There has been some interest in a housing component. Although Wright hasn’t polled his fellow city councilmembers, he believes it could be approved for residential zoning.

“It would be a mixed-use development, and lately we’ve approved all these apartment developments, so we might not need more for a while,” said Wright.

Johnson showed several different concepts that he thought the landowners might be interested in. One idea that caught Wright’s attention was senior living. 

“I know we’ve got Waterside, but it’s very expensive to get in there. And the other thing about Waterside is you can’t really walk anywhere from there except these trails along the river,” he said.

Senior housing as part of a mixed-use development, with amenities like a grocery store, restaurants, a pharmacy, etc., could fill a current void, said Wright.

“All the new developments like retail right up on the road versus a big parking lot in the front. That’s the trend right now,” said Wright. “Then, behind that would be some parking and also a large senior component.”

Still in concept phase

Will there be a new senior housing development on Peachtree Parkway? Will the Ingles Market take on a smaller footprint? None of these concepts have gotten past the conversation stage, said Wright, but he’s excited about what could come for Peachtree Corners.

“These decisions don’t come lightly. These plans tell developers we’re interested in more housing, more dense housing, more affordable housing,” said Wright. “But many of them are presenting rental housing, and from the public input, we hear a desire for a more balanced and also diverse housing stock with ownership options.”

NOTE: This article has been updated on July 27, 2023, at 4:36 pm.