This Week on The Street – May 5, 2016

by Steven Josovitz

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This Week on The Street

Atlanta Restaurant Real Estate

This Week on The Street  (A more or less regular compilation of news, factoids and observations.

May 8 , 2018

by Harold V. Shumacher

New Orleans has Never Looked Better

I’ve always liked New Orleans now I’m coming to appreciate it. Maybe it’s the architecture, the low lying land mass, with the ever present danger of being flooded in the next big storm, the influx of young creatives changing the look and feel of the place, the traditions like the St. Charles Streetcar, or restaurants that are hundreds of years old, the spontaneous street parade when a Brass band appears for a wedding, funeral or bar mitzvah. Whatever it is it works.

The number of restaurants here is astounding. There are as many or more restaurants now than there were pre-Katrina and the overall choice and diversity is amazing when you consider it was basically Creole and Cajun places with little of the diversity you find in other similarly sized cities.

Magazine Street, one of the most interesting shopping streets in the Southeast, is chock a block full of quaint shops, the vast majority locally owned, an abundance of restaurants, small music venues and similar amenities. If you walked the full length you could easily while away the day. If there is a mandatory stop on this stroll it would be Shaya, from the John Besh restaurant group, and arguably the best Middle Eastern/Israeli restaurant in the country.

On the drive to New Orleans we spent a night in Fairhope, Alabama. A small artist colony situated on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, the quaint town has another accolade. It’s one of only two single tax colonies in the United States (the other is Arden Delaware.). A creation of a 19th century socialist, a single tax district is essentially ownership of all the land by the community with individual residents and businesses enjoying long term ground leases. Part of the ground rent pays municipal taxes, upkeep on public spaces, roads and parks.

McDonald’s Dominates U.S. Food Sales

McDonald’s $35 billion of total sales in the United States are virtually two and a half times those of their next closest competitor (Starbuck’s) which weighs in in with just under $14 billion-a two and one half times difference. In fact the next three, Starbuck’s, Subway and Taco Bells total sales, combined, still fall short of Mickey D’s total. Later this summer look for Michael Keaton, portraying Ray Kroc, a malted milk machine salesmen turned restaurant guru in “The Founder” one of the most anticipated flicks of the summer.

So how big is the restaurant industry?

According to the National Restaurant Association (or the other NRA as I call it) total restaurant sales in 2016 will top $782 billion or 47% of the total food dollar spent. Half of all adults in the country have worked in restaurants at some point in their lives and for one out of three of us it was our first job experience. For restaurant owners the numbers are even more striking; 8 of 10 had their first experience in an entry level position while 9 of 10 managers started in a similar position. Finally the restaurant industry is the largest employer of minorities in the country and the one business where the number of women, Asian, Hispanic and African American owners continue to grow by double digit rates.

Finally, is the apartment boom slowing down? Atlanta based Haddow and Company, one of the most astute observers of the local development scene offered this in their most recent newsletter. Of the 71 respondents, all involved in local or national residential development, 80% expect a pullback in the availability of debt financing while a similar number anticipate rising construction costs to continue. This hasn’t deterred many of these folks as 73% are still pursuing sites to develop but not in Buckhead and Brookhaven, the two markets that 60% of the respondents thought were the most over-built. . To that point, two announced projects in Buckhead were both postponed earlier this week.

Recent Transactions for The Shumacher Group Inc. include

Lease Activity

Bojangle’s-Riverdale and East Cumming

Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop-Chastain Road/Kennesaw

Edible Arrangements-Mall of Georgia area

Verizon Wireless (corporate) Dalton and Cummibng

Sales of Existing Businesses

Lucky’s Pizza Dallas, Ga.

Rold Rite Sushi & More

For a more comprehensive summary please visit our website Shumacher.com for a complete summary of all our listings, company overview and specific contact information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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