Tuckerwood? Master Planner Of GM Project Hopes So

The man who is helping Integral Group attempt a massive redevelopment of the former GM plant in Doraville is about to spearhead another similar effort 10 miles to the east. Complete with a movie studio.

Macauley + Schmit principal Stephen Macauley is proposing a nearly $300M redevelopment of a shuttered Sears Roebuck & Co warehouse in the City of Tucker that would make way for some 600k SF of mixed-use uses, including retail, senior living, apartments and townhouses, all crowned by a movie studio. “We think the City of Tucker has an awful lot going for it right now,” Stephen says, adding that the area has been “grossly underserved” by new retail and housing for a number of years. Stephen filed his rezoning request to regional planners for 4650 and 4750 Hugh Howell Rd in Tucker in a recent Development of Regional Impact application.

Macauley + Schmit is the master developer along with Integral Group on the much-watched GM redevelopment in Doraville, a project that also is being led by a proposed movie studio. But with what he calls Tucker Town Center, Stephen is venturing on his own through his Macauley Investments off-shoot. While nothing of this project would go on spec, Stephen does say he's already in talks with an unidentified Hollywood studio about possibly anchoring the project. Even with his work at the GM plant—where plans are in the works for Third Rail Studios—and efforts by Jacoby Development to create a massive mixed-use studio project in Norcross just north of Tucker, Stephen says there's plenty of Hollywood demand to go around. “There's a shortage of [studio] space right now, and a shortage of buildings.”