The Real Deal

By Sharman Egan Lagniappe columnist

“Have you heard about the new Whole Foods coming to Midtown?” a Realtor asked me a few days ago. Not just a new supermarket in Midtown. A Whole Foods! Be still my heart.

“It’ll be at Dauphin and Sage. I heard it from Gavin Bender,” she said. “It sounded definite but you might want to check with him to make sure.”

I’m not sure which Gavin she’d been talking to (Gavin, Sr. or Gavin, Jr.) but either way, it sounded like a pretty reliable source to me. They’re president and vice-president respectively of Bender Real Estate Group, one of the companies involved in the development of The Preserve at Midtown, a 77-unit townhome community planned on the large vacant lot at the southeast corner of Dauphin Street and Sage Avenue.

The Preserve will take up about 12 acres on the southern portion of the 38-acre site. Plans for the remaining 26 acres include a bank, a drug store and “other unspecified commercial uses,” according to a re-zoning application for the property. Could “unspecified uses” mean a grocery store? Goodness knows we need a new supermarket in Midtown more than another bank or drugstore.

What’s more, The Preserve at Midtown will be pretty chi-chi, with all the bells and whistles: garages, private courtyards and high-end kitchens. It will be a gated community with a swimming pool, clubhouse and fitness center.

The homes are priced at $299,000 to $379,000, or just over $200 per square foot. That’s a rarity in Midtown – out of 294 Midtown homes listed in MLS in late June, only three others were priced over $200 per square foot. But according to what realtors tell me, The Preserve isn’t overpriced, it’s simply leading the market. Those prices reflect where the Midtown market is headed, especially for high-end new construction.

So where are these folks going to buy their cippolini onions and cactus pears (I have no idea what these things are but I found them on the Whole Foods Web site)? Of course, one upscale community won’t support a Whole Foods, but it’s no secret there’s a shortage of good supermarkets in the Midtown area.

First I tried to reach the source of the rumor. Both Gavins were on a family vacation. Janet Keene in their office offered to pose the question to Mr. Bender the next time he called in. She called me back to report his response: a hearty laugh. Not what I was hoping for. Keene said Bender (the individual and the company) wasn’t involved in the development of the commercial portion of the property. Mr. Bender said he may have speculated it would be nice to have a grocery store like Whole Foods in the area, but he had no information it was going to happen.

Next I contacted Emil Graf. The property in question was once the old Graf Diary Farm, and it’s still owned by the Graf family. Mr. Graf explained he’s actively marketing the property and there’s been interest, but there are no contracts at this time. In fact, the property’s rezoning isn’t even final yet. It will go before the City Council on July 22.

Could Whole Foods be one of the “interested parties”? I checked the company Web site, looking for signs of hope. I learned the chain has over 270 stores, with just one in Alabama, in Mountain Brook, a suburb of Birmingham. Over 80 new stores are currently in development, in 28 states and Canada. Not a one in Alabama.

Finally in desperation I called to get the official company line. “We don’t have any new stores planned in that area,” said spokesperson Darrah Horgan. When I asked “why not?” she couldn’t give me specifics but said the company selects sites for new stores based on a variety of factors including population density, demographics, availability of real estate and general interest in natural and organic foods.

So why not Mobile? What’s Birmingham got on us? Horgan couldn’t answer that question specifically but I found a page on the company Web site indicating it looks for store sites with 200,000 people or more within a 20-minute drive and a large number of college-educated residents.

According to city-data.com, Mobile is a little light on the first criterion with an estimated population of 192,830 in 2006, compared to 229,424 in Birmingham. I was surprised to learn, however, that we beat Birmingham hands down on education. According to this source, 24.9 percent of Mobilians over age 25 have a college degree versus just 18.5 percent in Birmingham. So the demographics look pretty good, if we can just get their attention.

Of course, we can always hold out hope Publix will eventually make its way to Mobile. I doubt you could buy cactus pears there but I do think they’d give Bruno’s and Winn-Dixie a run for their money. Publix has 30 stores in Alabama with plans to open its first store in Baldwin County in August in Orange Beach, followed by a store in Fairhope next year. The official line from Publix was they have no firm plans for any more stores in the area at this time.

Would you like to see a Whole Foods in the Mobile area, in Midtown or somewhere else? E-mail the company at newstore.request@wholefoods.com. Horgan assured me the company does consider these e-mails in its decisions. Interested in buying in Midtown? For more information on The Preserve at Midtown, go to www.thepreserveatmidtown.com.

Sharman Egan is Lagniappe lagniappe columnist. Contact her at Sharman@SharmanEgan.com.

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