Milan Patel stands in front of his latest project, Bottoms Up!" The upscale package store is the cornestone to the second phase of Shoppes at Westover development, which includes four new businesses. The first phase of the Shoppes includes Surcheros and his Newk's Eatery.
Choosing Albany MILAN PATEL
28 JULY | AUGUST 2021
WHEN MILAN PATEL LEFT ALBANY FOR THE ATLANTA AREA IN 2007, he never imagined himself returning. He had just finished a threeyear stint of running a retail business off of Gillionville Road before selling it to return to the Atlanta area. When the financial crisis of 2008 hit just a year after moving, Patel lost everything. As he built himself back up, he found himself looking at another opportunity in Albany in 2010, just three years after he left without any plans to come back. That opportunity was the former Holiday Inn property near the Albany Mall that Patel and his partnership group bought, cleared, and then turned into the Olive Garden that stands there today. “My next opportunity could have been … anywhere, but it was here,” said Patel. “And then when it was here, one thing led to another and I stayed here. And I’ve been here now 11 years.” And so through a meandering journey that started with being born in New Jersey, living in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and then in Newnan, Georgia growing up, going to college in Athens, coming to Albany, leaving, and making his way back, Patel came to call Albany his home. “Albany chose me,” Patel said. “A place that welcomes you and lets you be successful, that place chooses you.” One thing that stood out to Patel about Albany after living in so many different places was the people. “Everybody knows you in your neighborhood,” said Patel. “Everybody knows you in the next neighborhood. They want to get to know you. They want to find ways to connect with you, and you didn’t get that (in Newnan).
