Alpharetta Allows Sale of Downtown Property, Clearing Way for Film Office

A film company plans to buy a vacant spec restaurant building on Roswell Street in downtown Alpharetta, with plans to film food shows and commercials in its kitchen and a studio inside.

Coro Real Estate has held the lease with the city on the property for several years and built the restaurant space on it. Now the company has a tenant that wants to own the 5,000-square-foot building.

"The restaurant industry has largely moved away from that model," James Drinkard, assistant city administrator, told the Alpharetta Development Authority on Thursday. "In downtown settings, the trend is toward considerably smaller spaces."

Pure Taqueria in downtown is an example of a smaller space in which its staff works for a quick turnover of customers, filling few seats many times at lunch or dinner.

Judi and Jimmy Collins have a film company, Jayan Films, that creates commercials and other digital and film projects for clients such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and banks. Judi told the Alpharetta Development Authority on Thursday that her husband's vision is to bring TV show productions to the Alpharetta location. The company has its offices in Atlanta, but plans to bring them to Alpharetta.

Fewer than 20 employees work for the company, but crews for productions might add 30 to 40 people to the site. Parking for the building is in the "Charlie Ray" public parking lot that is accessed through this parcel.

This building attracted the Collins' interest because it has a commercial kitchen installed.

Permission was needed for this use because while the property's zoning allowed it, the lease was more restrictive. And Coro Realty wanted to exercise its option to buy the property, which it will then sell to the Collins.

Drinkard said don't worry about the property being "flipped," because the end result is putting a tenant within the building, which is the city's goal.

 Coro Realty plans to use the proceeds from the sale from this parcel and building to buy the rest of the downtown property it leases from the city, including the building that houses the Corner Deli and Aria's Salon.