The new Cornelia shopping strip next door to Walmart is on schedule to open this fall. Construction on the shell of the building is almost complete.
When it’s done, the location will offer 22- thousand square feet of brand new retail space in the city’s most active business area.
The Sansone Group from St. Louis, MO bought the land in February for $825,000 and is spending $5 million developing the Habersham County retail space.
Developer Doug Sansone tells Now Habersham that his company sees our area as a growth opportunity. “We have a relationship with Wal-Mart and they were selling the property. We looked into it and found Cornelia to be a good investment.”
We can also now tell you which stores will go where in the new development. According to information provided by Sansone Group, Little Caesars is moving into the space nearest to Chase Road. Great Clips will be next door. The tenant in the third retail space remains a mystery at this point but the rest of the center will be home to Sally Beauty, a nail salon, Cato Fashions, Shoe Show, and Rue 21 (see map).
Additional parking is being added in front of the retail locations creating about 100 new spaces.
Sansone says the acquisition in Habersham County is part of his firm’s strategy of buying near anchored shopping centers in an effort to move into new markets in the Midwest and Southeast.
The Sansone Group is a growing company, increasing their “brokerage transaction volume” from $134 million in 2012 to $240 million last year. They’re on track to acquire $100 million worth of property in the last half of 2015.