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Developers are spiffing up their resumes for the chance to build a $400 million to $600 million retail and entertainment district around the new Braves stadium.

The Braves may have sent as many as 50 requests for qualifications this month, known as RFQs, to Atlanta, regional and national developers, according to some with knowledge of the process. And, with a Jan. 10 deadline to respond, developers are scrambling to build a compelling reason why the Braves should pick them.

"We know it's going to take someone with a lot of horsepower to pull off a project of this size and complexity," said Phil Barry, with the real estate company Avison Young.

"Negotiating this agreement is going to be extraordinarily complex," said Steve Labovitz, a partner with the Atlanta office of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. "You know financing is going to be an issue, and the Braves will want someone with the capital sources and the expertise."

Three years before the first pitch, retailers are trying to punch their ticket for a $400 million entertainment district surrounding the planned Atlanta Braves stadium.

Dinner theater concepts such as CineBistro, sporting goods stores such as Gander Mountain and Cabela's, brewhouses such as World of Beer, sports bars, chain restaurants - all could join the lineup of a mixed-use project that might be a cross between the excitement of LA Live and the walkability of Atlantic Station.

"Within 24 hours of the announcement that the Braves planned to move to the Cobb Galleria area, my cellphone was already ringing off the hook with clients reiterating their desire to be in the area," said Greg Eisenman, a vice president with the retail services group of Colliers International Atlanta.

It's not just retailers that want to be included in the district, which could take shape on about 60 acres at Interstate 75 and I-285 near Cumberland Galleria. Limited-service hotels want to be part of the action, too, including the possibility of a new Hyatt Place, Aloft, Home 2 Suites or even upscale extended-stay concepts such as Staybridge and Westin Element. Existing hotels are more likely to pour money into renovations.

When Cobb County commissioners decide whether to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in public money on a new Braves stadium, proponents will argue that the county should provide the money without hesitation.

Since the Braves and Cobb announced two weeks ago they'd struck a deal to move the team to the Cumberland Mall area, Commission chairman Tim Lee, a largely united Cobb business community and residents excited about living closer to games have said the move will boost the county's image, make it more of a magnet for development and widen its tax base.

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution spoke with those close to the deal and experts in local government, stadium construction and large-scale retail development about the arguments in favor of the deal:

One of Atlanta's most prolific mixed-use developers is planning $750 million worth of projects in metro Atlanta.

Jeff Fuqua, a former executive with The Sembler Co. who now runs his own company, Fuqua Development LLC, has at least nine projects in the works from Midtown to Kennesaw.

It's a sign the beleaguered retail sector is finally bouncing back.

"Since the crash in 2008, this is the most active we've been," Fuqua said. "These projects are deep in the pipeline. We fully plan to build these projects."

The Fresh Market development on Riverside Avenue is about as personal as a deal gets for Regency Centers Corp.

Executives at Jacksonville-based Regency, a retail real estate investment trust, were always aware of the site - it's less than a mile from their corporate headquarters in Downtown Jacksonville. With hundreds of employees working in the Wells Fargo Center, they also were well aware of the lack of retail serving Downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods.

And it was a personal connection between Paul Maxwell, Regency vice president and regional officer, and Jeff Fuqua, principal of Fuqua Development in Atlanta, that brought Regency into the deal.

Regency confirmed the deal Wednesday. The Fresh Market will anchor Shoppes on Riverside, a 49,000-square-foot retail development along Riverside Avenue, adjacent to 220 Riverside and in front of a planned 300-unit apartment community.

Regency Centers Corp. and Fuqua Development have closed on a parcel of land along Riverside Avenue where the developers plan to build a grocer-anchored shopping center, according to a Duval County deed recorded Friday.

The partnership paid $3.085 million for about two acres of land in Brooklyn, in front of where Pollack Shores is planning to build a 300-unit apartment complex and adjacent to where Hallmark Partners Inc. is under construction on 220 Riverside.

Paul Maxwell, vice president with Regency, confirmed the sale but said the partnership had no tenants to announce.

The battle between residents and a developer over plans for a big-box store in Grant Park intensified Thursday as backers of the project slapped Atlanta officials with lawsuits over a recent zoning change.

Fuqua Development and Lafarge Building Materials, which owns the 20-acre property that Fuqua is set to convert into a large retail center, claim the city's Sept. 3 decision to rezone their parcel on Glenwood Avenue from industrial to residential has harmed the project.

While it doesn't stop the developer from obtaining building permits, attorneys for both companies say the rezoning diminished land value, stalled their project and makes getting the necessary financing more difficult.

"We don't have any choice but to fight, because we're fighting over millions of dollars here," said Doug Dillard, an attorney with Weissman, Nowack, Curry and Wilco, which represents Lafarge.

The City of Peachtree Corners has awarded Fuqua Development the right to build the $150 million Carillon Village, a mixed-use project that will create a pedestrian-friendly environment. The 20-acre development includes 150,000 square feet of retail that will feature a health club, restaurants and fashion tenants. The project will also contain Class A office space above 15,000 square feet of retail, along with 356 multifamily units and a 120-room boutique hotel.

Throughout Carillon Village, which will be complete in fall 2014, the streets and sidewalks will connect to open spaces through walkways, plazas and landscaped areas.

Atlanta developer Jeff Fuqua says he wants to find middle ground in the coming weeks with local residents over his latest mixed-use project in DeKalb County.

Fuqua told CL late last week that his firm is working on a revised plan for Decatur Crossing, the proposed 7-acre retail center envisioned at the corner of North Decatur Road and Scott Boulevard, amid concerns from local residents during the past few months. He plans to meet with neighborhood groups and county planners as early as this week to continue those conversations.

Fuqua Development last week received a 60-day deferral from DeKalb County's Board of Commissioners so the firm could continue to flesh out a plan that includes community input. Following the zoning meeting, Commissioner Kathie Gannon told CL that the project will ultimately need to have a "comprehensive approach to the entire area."

After 25 years, more than 8 million square feet, and lots of opposition, few have shaped the city like Fuqua.

Scott Boulevard Baptist Church is running out of options. The 58-year-old church located at the corner of North Decatur Road and Scott Boulevard has an aging congregation. Most remaining churchgoers are over 80. Membership has shrunk from a peak of 500 worshippers in the 1960s to about 50 people today. The church no longer has the funds to stay open for Sunday services.

In attempts to keep its doors open, the congregation tried to rent space to nonprofit organizations, merge with more than a dozen other churches, and sell the building to a nursing home operator. Every effort was a bust.

That's when Jeff Fuqua stepped in. In September 2012, his real estate development firm, Fuqua Development, offered to buy the church and 10 nearby homes. If he closes the deal, Fuqua plans to level the church and residences and construct a 7-acre mixed-use shopping center.

"It was not an easy decision," said Pastor Greg Smith at a July meeting with worshippers and nearby residents. "It was a decision we felt like we had to make. We choose to take care of our people rather than take care of our landlord."

We told you almost a year ago that The Fresh Market was considering a site along Riverside Avenue in Brooklyn, anchoring a shopping center proposed by Fuqua Development of Atlanta.

So far, The Fresh Market has remained mum on the deal. Since we broke the story, Fuqua has revised its site plan to say the development would be anchored by an "organic grocer."

A spokeswoman for The Fresh Market (Nasdaq: TFM) declined comment Thursday morning. Developer Jeff Fuqua did not return a phone call seeking comment, but when I spoke to him in May, he told me he was "moving forward as fast as possible to start construction in September."

One of the nation's hottest retailers sees Atlanta as a critical hub for its expansion into the Southeast.

According to many local insiders, Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Markets LLC likely will open at least four stores in metro Atlanta in 2014. The $2 billion organic grocery chain also is actively looking to open a new distribution center here that would fuel its growth in Georgia and nearby states such as North Carolina, Alabama and Florida.

Sprouts is poised for tremendous growth. It's backed by international capital partner Apollo Global Management LLC.

Fuqua Development LP's Brooklyn Retail Commercial Development final design was granted a modification Thursday by the Downtown Development Review Board of the City Office of Economic Development.

The project lost its pharmacy but gained more space for restaurants and a few more parking spaces along Riverside Avenue.

Before the meeting, Greer Scoggins, director of construction for Atlanta-based Fuqua, said the firm was unable to secure an agreement with a pharmacy chain and the company is ready to begin construction of the center.

An aging stretch of Piedmont Road, bypassed by investors for years, is on the verge of a development boom.

A host of retail and residential projects are planned along or near the section of Piedmont between Midtown and Buckhead.

Today, it's a hodgepodge of old shopping centers, restaurants, retailers and adult establishments. But new stores (perhaps even a Walmart), an upscale attraction and more than 1,000 apartment units are in the works that could transform the area.

Fuqua Development is proposing a 53,700 square foot, grocery anchored retail development on Riverside Avenue between Jackson Street and Stonewall Street. Controversial due to its suburban layout, the project may receive its final approval at today's Downtown Development Review Board (DDRB) meeting. Here is a look at the project's latest site plan and architectural renderings.

The Medlock Area Neighborhood Association reported yesterday that Commissioners Jeff Rader and Kathie Gannon recently met with neighborhood representatives to give a brief update on the Scott Boulevard Baptist Church location, which is being redeveloped by Fuqua Development.

Fuqua presented some "very preliminary" drawings at the meeting. The MANA site summarized it as such...

A new plan has emerged for a Buckhead site where last year controversy erupted over a proposed Walmart Supercenter.

An apartment project now is planned in the Lindbergh area on a portion of the site that failed to become a mixed-use center with big-box retail in 2012.

Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar is proposing a 359-unit multifamily development on almost 6 acres behind the Lindbergh Plaza shopping center that includes Best Buy and Home Depot.

The other shoe is about to fall.

With work well under way on the big mixed development project 220 Riverside, another residential/retail project right next door is getting closer to approval and construction.

Though the 11-acre, $53 million project doesn’t have a name yet, the pieces are coming together: The front half, along Riverside Avenue, will be 53,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, anchored by a grocery store. Behind that will be an apartment complex with 310 units.

Right now, ash is being removed from the site bounded by Riverside Avenue and Jackson, Park and Leila streets while developers put the final touches to their plans.

A new design for the Riverside Park residential development Downtown was granted conceptual approval Thursday, a design dubbed by one member of the approving board as a "huge improvement."

The Downtown Development Review Board, part of the City Office of Economic Development, granted conceptual approval April 5, 2012, for a "carriage house" design for the project, but the design submitted Thursday lacks such a feature. The new design represents a different site plan and design for the three- and four-story buildings in the Downtown development.

The design moves the buildings to the property lines along the street and increased the number of units from 283 to 310.

Natural foods grocers are hungry to open new stores around Atlanta.

N.C.-based Earth Fare Inc. is scouting sites for its first metro stores. Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Markets LLC is likely to open several stores as it pushes into Georgia. And already-familiar concepts including The Fresh Market and Whole Foods Market continue to grow slowly, adding one store at a time.

"I think the wave of grocery is going in this fresh, organic direction," said Amy Fingerhut, a commercial real estate broker in CBRE Inc.'s Atlanta Retail Services Group.

Welcome to Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2013 Commercial Real Estate Who's Who, a look at 100 individuals who are driving the industry in metro Atlanta. For this list, we relied on research from our 2012-2013 Book of Lists, including the top 25 commercial real estate brokerages; top 25 commercial property managers; top commercial developers, REITs and owners in office, industrial and retail; top five commercial contractors; and top five interior commercial contractors. We also included leaders from industry associations and significant dealmakers who influence our local commercial real estate landscape. As always, any list of only 100 names cannot be comprehensive of all leaders in a local industry.

A new plan for the old University Hospital complex at 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard includes more housing and likely a King Soopers.

7NEWS confirmed with King Soopers spokeswoman Kelli McGannon that the grocery chain is finalizing negotiations to build a standard King Soopers to be the anchor of the 9th and Colorado development.

"We are continuing to work with them. We are in negotiations with this project. Our interest continues in this site. We are continuing to work with the city and its partners to create a redevelopment of this property that would serve this unique Denver neighborhood," said McGannon.

According to Denver City Council President Mary Beth Susman, the new plan calls for King Soopers, a senior living facility and a hotel, along with peripheral retail.

Jeff Fuqua is set to join Michael Bull on his nationally syndicated weekly talk radio show to discuss the U.S. retail market. Fuqua Development invites you to tune in to The Commercial Real Estate Show by clicking the link below.

The show is set to air in the local Atlanta area on Biz1190 WAFS this Saturday, January 24, 2013 at 10 a.m. ET.