Back-to-Back Retail Projects Planned in Henry County

ATLANTA-Booming Henry County, with a permanent population of 140,000 and a land area of only 323 square miles, continues to attract developers who are banking on a growing residential and commercial base that will follow the construction of a planned $20-million state-built interchange on Interstate 75, about 30 miles southeast of Downtown Atlanta.

The newest players are Georgia Realty and landowner James Chaffin. Both have submitted proposals to county planning and zoning officials for back-to-back, individually owned retail centers. Georgia Realty has contracted to buy 23.5 acres fronting Jonesboro Road, west of the 800,000-sf Henry Town Center and near the planned Crystal Lake Plantation golf community. Adjacent to that venture, Chaffin plans to build a strip center on 10.7 acres if county planning and zoning officials will approve both projects.

The newest ventures follow a slew of previously announced projects for Henry County. Among them are a 599,500-sf distribution center on a 32-acre site planned by ProLogis of Aurora, CO at Greenwood Industrial Parkway and GA 155 south. Miami-based Equity One plans to break ground this quarter on a 13.5-acre shopping center, anchored by a Publix supermarket on GA 20, west of McDonough, GA.