In addition to our normal news coverage, What Now Atlanta is tracking ways Atlanta’s businesses are adapting to the novel coronavirus and the challenges it brings to brick-and-mortars.
Selig Enterprises is on an eviction-filing spree with the Superior Court of Fulton County, having issued at least eight notices since early June citing unpaid rent totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“To get possession of a space, we have to go through the legal process,” Bill Stogner, senior vice president of retail for Selig, told What Now Atlanta (WNA) in a telephone interview Wednesday. “CamiCakes, for example, permanently closed its doors, left everything behind, and walked out.”
Panera Bread in Ansley Mall has also permanently shuttered, according to Stogner, and owes nearly $41,000 in unpaid rent. Metrotainment Bakery has the largest outstanding bill having racked up $63,500 in rent not paid in March, April, May, and June, according to eviction filings obtained by WNA Wednesday.
“The Bakery closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic and has not been operating since that time,” a spokesperson for the bakery, which is owned by Metrotainment Cafes, told WNA in an email Wednesday. They said as of today there were no plans to reopen.
“We have over 1400 retail tenants across the southeast and provided nearly 430 of them rent relief, deferrals, and abatements, at their request,” Stogner said. “We worked with all of our tenants and the eight we’ve filed evictions for, we couldn’t come to an agreement with or they refused to respond to us.”
When the coronavirus outbreak forced brick-and-mortar businesses to close in mid-March, early-April, Selig created a committee to determine the best way to handle its tenants’ cashflow issues and its own. “We reached out to tenants and tenants reached out to us,” Stogner said. “Each case stands on its own but it’s in our best interest to work with our tenants and keep them in business and that has been and continues to be our approach.”
Here’s the entire list of active Selig evictions in Fulton County (click the business’ name to see the filing):
CamiCakes Cupcakes—$18,379.57 due in total for April, May, and June
2221 Peachtree Rd B, Atlanta, GA 30309
Dead Tech Records—$9,718.85 due in total for April, May, and June
1588 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324
Greek Grill, Fish & Chips—$13,390.79 due in total for February, March, April, May, and June
20 Broad St. SW Atlanta, GA 30303
Mahamadou Dukuray—$11,152.02 due in total for February, March, April, May, and June
4725 Bakers Ferry Rd SW Atlanta, GA 30336
Metrotainment Bakery—$63,406.85 due in total for March, April, May, and June
1119 Logan Cir NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
Panera Bread—$40,588.76 due in total for April, May, and June
1544 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324
Royal Manufacturing—$20,901.18 due in total for February, March, April, May, and June
5315 Tulane Dr SW Ste E Atlanta, GA 30336
Sunny Nail Salon—$30,725.94 due in total for February, March, April, May, and June
27 Peachtree St SW, Atlanta, GA 30303
[Editor’s note: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving as is its effect on Atlanta, and the City’s businesses and its residents. Click here for What Now Atlanta’s ongoing coverage of the crisis. For guidance and updates on the pandemic, please visit the C.D.C. website.]
17 Responses
The beginning of a tidal wave of evictions.
Completely agree. 33% of Americans were late or missed their mortgage payment in June. We’re on the brink of something really terrible.
I think you’re missing a decimal and adding a comma in Camicakes….
Ariel, thanks for catching. Yes, the second comma should have been a decimal. This has been corrected. ~ CJS
What a disgusting bunch of a-holes. Selig couldn’t work with these tenants to get them through this Trump Pandemic and the Trump Great Depression? What a bunch of money grubbing animals.
@Jake.. Reading comprehension.. or reading the entire article, not just the headline, Sweetie.
This line is always included in Jake’s posts.
So it seems like it doesn’t matter what the topic is about, as long as he can work that in.
Side effect of our response to this virus. 6% infected, but nearly 20% lost jobs and some much more. I know deaths are horrible, but unemployment has a death rate too, and last damage to the lives of millions. I don’t know what exactly is the right thing to do, just know we did not do it.
No, we didn’t do it right.
Our ‘president’ should have told the truth instead of turning this into a political conspiracy theory.
Not a fan of the president either, but he is not the only one at fault.
You’re right, he’s absolutely not the only one in the world at fault.
But as an American, the most important voice comes from the president.
Trump is only interested in ratings, and creating divisiveness.
At a time when we need direction & cooperation, he blew it.
He’s a sociopath.
I know, I was raised by one.
Commercial landlords are going to have to take a haircut like everyone else. Every time there is a financial crisis the commercial landlords make it so much worse. They need to be de-incentivized to take the loss and incentivized to keep their properties full. Maybe a sliding scale on the tax break for losses by month that at the 5 to 6 month mark becomes zero. This would be by square footage of un-leased space. Hopefully forcing them to either rent it or sell it. Would also need a creative solution to prevent them from selling it back to themselves.
I’ve heard so many first hand stories on landlords in this pandemic. The good ones offer abatement or discount with some taking on months to the lease for each month that continues. The bad ones are either offering deferments, really loans when you don’t know if you can pay that back, or nothing.
They cannot be trusted to do what is right, so we must make them do what is right.
Excellent! Some ideas for resolution. We can always find someone or something to blame. I get it. The priority is to put our intellect and genius into, at least, talking about what can be done. some alternatives to use as a platform. We’ve spent far too long talking about things we can’t fix and people we can’t control. How can we as a collective work to change the tide for All of us, to benefit All of us……ijs…
Be Well
Commercial landlords have obligations too, and it’s a delicate balance for them as well. Debt is an essential part of the commercial real estate business and if lenders are not providing similar relief, landlords are limited in what they can do. Obviously it’s in both the landlord’s and tenant’s best interest to work something out, but a lot of failing tenants are using the crisis as an excuse for continued delinquencies. This is still a business with multiple stakeholders and it’s not as simple as blaming greedy landlords.