Work crews have begun construction on the first of two retail buildings at the Long Farm, developer Russell Mosely’s 237-acre planned unit development at Airline Highway and Antioch Road.
The 9,300-square-foot building will include a new Starbucks location, a Five Guys hamburger restaurant and a Pacific Dental Services office. A fourth space in the retail center remains vacant, though Mosely is negotiating with a potential tenant.
The building will front Airline Highway and will be located to the east of a 53,545-square-foot Rouses Supermarket, currently under construction and scheduled to open later this year. A Zaxby’s fried chicken restaurant, facing Airline Highway, also will be on the site. The Athens, Georgia-based restaurant chain is planning a 4,157-square foot location on a 1.22-acre parcel it acquired from Mosely on March 4 for $1.3 million.
Mosely hopes a second retail building, which will be located behind the first one, will also get under way this year. So far, he has several letters of intent with potential tenants but no firm leases.
For Mosely, the development of the commercial portion of the project is a long-anticipated milestone. He began developing Long Farm in 2008 on the property once owned by his grandfather, the late U.S. Sen. Russell Long.
“I’m happy about where we are,” Mosely says. “These are going to be real good end users and I think we’ll be able to announce additional components soon.”
Residential construction at Long Farm has been under way for several years. The development has three filings; the first two comprise single-family homes. The third filing, under development by Alabama-based Arlington Properties, will include a 13-building complex of 276 multifamily units.
—Stephanie Riegel
