Revue & News, May 1, 2014

Computers Rose wins through the ages best Ranger Apple Pop Up Museum hosts ‘LINK’ exhibition ►►page 12

Roswell resident places first in national competition ►►page 15

&

Tour de Roswell

Hundreds turn out for annual cycling festival ►►page 30

Alpharetta-Roswell

Local politics

Revue News

Albers signs bills City Council

► page 8 ► page 9

Real Estate Report

Sponsored section ► page 24

May 1, 2014 | northfulton.com | 73,500 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 32, No. 18

Avalon 97% leased with 189 days to go Topping out party means NAP passing baton to new tenants By HATCHER HURD & JONATHAN COPSEY

Alpharetta enjoys art, fine weather Chloe Lynch paints a bird during the Alpharetta Arts Streetfest April 27. See the story, page 16.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Avalon had a party last week to celebrate another milestone – the “topping out” of the property. That is the setting of the last beam in the last building of the retail quarter of what will eventually be North American Properties’ $600 million mixeduse residential, commercial and office playland of North Fulton. But North American Properties Managing Partner Mark Toro and his associates had much more to celebrate than the end of principal construction (although finishings will

take another six months). Toro has a whopping 93 percent of the property signed to leases with another 4 percent of the property in the last stages of negotiations for leases. “In effect, we are 100 percent leased with six months to go. That is practically unheard of,” Toro said. In all, there will be 500,000 square feet of retail on 87 acres. There has been so much interest in the residential components of the property – both single-family and luxury rental units (Avalon doesn’t use the word “apartment”) – that they

See AVALON, Page 36

JONATHAN COPSEY/staff

Appen Media wins 19 national awards, named Best in Show Revue & News wins first for most improved publication ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Appen Media Group – publishers of the Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald and Forsyth Herald – returned from the Association of Free Community Papers (AFCP) annual conference this month in Orlando, Fla., with 19 awards for editorial, ad creation and

publication design. Five of the awards were firsts among the 83 juried categories and 1,400 entries. “The Best of the Best” trade show recognizes extraordinary works in the fields of journalism, photography, ad design and page layout, said Appen Media General

WWW.IROFF.COM

Manager Hans Appen. “We took home 19 awards, more than any of the more than 250 newspaper groups represented at the conference, including Best in Show – the most prestigious award they hand out,” said Appen.

See APPEN, Page 18

JONATHAN COPSEY/STAFF

Counting down: Avalon, North Fulton’s $600 million project, is slated to open its first phase Oct. 30.