Just like a musical medley needs multiple interweaving songs to exist, large development projects that feature a mix of property types need robust financial backing to become a reality.
The Medley mixed-use development in Johns Creek announced Wednesday it obtained its financing, paving the way for the project’s groundbreaking next month. The $560 million town center project aims to redefine suburban Johns Creek’s city center with a new hotel, office space, hundreds of housing units and a variety of shops and restaurants.
Mark Toro, the head of Medley’s developer Toro Development Co., said it was an uphill battle to obtain construction financing given how interest rates and commercial real estate have been impacted in recent years. The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to tame inflation, but that’s also cooled lending. The upending of the office market caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and lingering since, has also chilled development.
But he said there’s still money out there for high-quality projects in the right places.
“It was a heavy lift, but the fundamentals of experiential mixed-use real estate remain attractive to the right investors, even in today’s frigid market,” Toro said in a news release.
Courtesy of Toro Development Group
Courtesy of Toro Development Group
Toro started his namesake development firm after working on the North American Properties team that built Avalon in Alpharetta, and Medley aims to bring a similar energy to neighboring Johns Creek. His firm in March paid $44 million to acquire a 43-acre former State Farm office campus along Johns Creek Parkway and McGinnis Ferry Road.
Since acquiring the property, the developer razed an existing office building to prepare the site for construction, which is expected to begin in December. The other existing office building will be renovated and incorporated into the new district.
The rest of the project will include a 175-room boutique hotel, 110,000 square feet of office space, 750 apartments, 133 townhomes, a 25,000-square-foot plaza and about 150,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space.
“Our plan will completely transform a struggling, commodity office park into a walkable, urban oasis for Johns Creek,” Toro said. “This is the kind of project the investment community is excited to hear about.”
The project is being financed by a mix of equity and debt, including an undisclosed equity investment from Denver-based real estate private equity firm Ascentris and a $158 million construction loan from Mexico City-based Banco Inbursa. The project is also supported by a $13.4 million tax break from the Development Authority of Fulton County, which was approved in 2023.
Medley’s first phase is expected to open by the third quarter of 2026.
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