ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta real estate broker Brian Patton walked through an empty store in the city's downtown with a sense of resolve.
"Certainly, it's a difficult market, but all the brokers I've talked to are getting busier," he said.
Patton said the former gym on Roswell Street was one of nearly 60 properties his brokerage firm, Capital Realty Advisors, can't seem rent out because demand for traditional retail space across the Metro area has waned.
"Finding tenants who can get financing from banks is still very difficult," he told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik.
Alpharetta's assistant city administrator, James Drinkard, told Petchenik retail vacancies in the city have nearly doubled since 2007, leaving more than a million square feet of space unused in Alpharetta, Roswell and Johns Creek.
"We're seeing an evolution in retail," he said. "Big Box stores, former car dealerships, especially, are not the norm anymore."
Drinkard told Petchenik the empty buildings have a negative impact on the community.
"It tends to have a deleterious effect on properties around it," he said. "The vacancies start to seep outward from a given property." Drinkard said the city is now partnering with the Atlanta Regional Commission to inventory the empty retail space and to find tenants for it and possibly new uses for it.
"This is a great opportunity for someone to come along, create jobs, create investment in the community," he said.