Drive through downtown Senoia any weekend and you will be stunned by the throngs of people enjoying the city.
Whether it’s people doing “The Walking Dead” tour or just shopping and enjoying the restaurants, the town is alive with activity. The city continues to appear on the national radar as an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal promoted Senoia as one of the prototypes for people looking for small towns to call home.
This fall, the city will add more life when new buildings open featuring 10 loft apartments, a destination restaurant and 15 additional retail spaces.
Project developer Scott Tigchelaar’s lofts and retail space are set to open soon. The project was conceived by Historical Concepts in Peachtree City. The project builds on the success of Nic & Norman’s restaurant that opened to wild acclaim earlier this summer. The new development includes a fitness center and an upscale bistro restaurant. The lofts blend in with the historical nature of the city and will offer resudents and tourists new shopping and dining destinations.
In 2007, the city had seven businesses open downtown. Now, the city boosts more than 50, plus more coming this fall.
In 2013, Downtown Development Authority chairman Suzanne Helfman summed up the progress.
“Whether the increasing number of businesses moving to the city or the large variety of people involved, we have diversified stakeholders with businesses, developers, the city and the DDA. All of those together became what we have now. All these entities had a shared vision. It’s a remarkable transformation that just keeps getting better.”
