I suppose if you had a whole bunch of empty storefronts under your control and New Line Cinema came along and said, “Hey we’d like to film a Farrelly Brothers movie called ‘Hall Pass’ that stars Owen Wilson in your empty shops,” you’d say yes.

But isn’t it a bit sad that that’s how you’re using these empty shops, recession or no?

Isn’t a bit sad, and potentially a sign that your strategy isn’t working, if the only use one particular corner shop has seen is as a fake Borders and now a fake real estate office?

That’s what’s happening at Glenwood Park (above), the planned, new urbanist community between Grant Park and East Atlanta.

I’ve written about these folks before — namely when another movie came to town and put up a Borders bookstore sign, leaving a bunch of residents to think a large bookstore was coming to town.

And to be fair, I’ve said that the complex is so nice and so promising that my expectations are that much higher.

But if I were one of the many people who bought a condo, townhome or single-family home there, I would really have to wonder about a commercial property intended for retail that instead begins a sideline as a movie location.

Indeed, I would be a bit chagrined when I realized that my commercial retail property was picture-perfect as a location for movies because SO MANY SHOPS ARE VACANT.

On the plus side, of course, it’s so fun to see all of these Hollywood types take over a neighborhood.

And by Hollywood types, I don’t mean Owen Wilson, whom I have not seen, but all the support people who seem to think it’s totally normal to shut down life in a neighborhood for a few days. There is that over-time for all the police who have to direct traffic since one of the main streets is closed.

But still. My understanding is that the folks behind Glenwood Park want local businesses to fill those vacancies.

Yet in the past year, any number of local retail/restaurant operations have opened intown and yet none of them have washed up on Glenwood Park’s shores.

I mean, specifically: the Mercantile in Candler Park; Bakeshop in Midtown; Ormsby’s on the Westside; Room and Board on the Westside; Urban Cannibals in East Atlanta (hybrid eat-in grocery); the new deli/liquor store by the King MARTA station; Strongbox on the Westside (for telecommuters who want an occasional regular office); and on and on.

I’m leaving out marketing companies, salons, production studios and a zillion other businesses that have also opened. So far, Glenwood has gained a pediatrician and another child-related business, but still has large swaths of unrented commercial space.

Hence “Hall Pass” and the Hope Street Health Club.

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Even if you don’t care about 525 Moreland, you should check out Terminal Station just to see a fantastic archival photo of one of Atlanta’s majestic old train stations — alas long gone.

As I mentioned on Ben’s blog, the proposed mixed-use development at the corner of Moreland and Glenwood avenues is of interest to me because I think it could be a good gateway to East Atlanta from the Glenwood Avenue neighborhoods of Ormewood Park and Glenwood Park. Plus it could begin the transformation of Moreland, which is just ugly and uninviting in that section (and most sections, actually).

In addition to the parcels on Moreland, the complex includes two houses on Glenwood Ave. that are just beyond saving.

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But today I saw a sign that says Snap Fitness is expanding its location there!

Clearly the gym folks saw my post here and thought, ‘We better expand!’

Right?

Ok, no. Not at all. Not even a little.

BUT, what a good omen. The sign announcing the expansion was in a large corner space on Glenwood Ave. (next to the gym’s current location) that appears to have been vacant since it was built (it’s raw inside).

And of course, it’s good news that a business can think about expanding in this economy. In fact, those cheeky Snap Fitness folks wrote on the sign: “We’re expanding so you don’t have to!” Good one!

The gym may be counting on the new apartment complex that’s going up on the opposite corner of Glenwood. More density should mean more businesses and services.

I’ll keep you posted on the comings and goings at Glenwood Park.

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Now why would I think that?

Well, because briefly last month a Borders bookstore sign was attached to a building in Glenwood Park across from the Shed at Glenwood restaurant (and indeed across from the construction site for the new building).

Books were arranged in the window, the name was engraved on the door and workers appeared inside with ladders and other tools, as though they were setting up a bookshop.

At some point, they took down the sign, and removed a “B” from the BORDERS etched on the door (see the photo above). Now the door doesn’t even read “ORDERS.”

What a freakin’ tease.

I live a short walk away from Glenwood Park, a mixed-use, New Urbanist development near I-20. After I saw the sign on the building, I began to imagine the benefits of a large bookstore moving into “the hood.”

I was a bit skeptical — mainly because there are so many vacancies in Glenwood Park, and the other tenants are small, locally-owned businesses — not national big box chains.

So I went over to Perk, the coffee shop in Glenwood Park and asked if the Borders sign was too good to be true. “Yes,” said the guy behind the counter.

In fact, according to merchants and residents, Glenwood Park’s developers had allowed a company to set up a film shoot in the neighborhood. I guess there’s a Borders bookstore in the film the company is making.

Yep, in the film — not actually in real life. At least not in Glenwood Park.

Now, I am fairly interested in urban development, and I walk quite a bit, so I am always looking for shops I can patronize in my neighborhood, especially on foot. As a result, I discounted my reaction, thinking it might be a bit extreme.

But my neighbors, including two retired empty-nesters whom I rarely see walking, had also begun to get their hopes up when they saw the Borders sign. And the folks who run the Shed restaurant (which, as I said, would have faced the Borders) said they hated breaking the bad news to patrons who came in to chat about the new bookstore.

Interestingly, Glenwood Park put its shortcomings in sharp relief by allowing the film company to put up a fake Borders sign. The complex desperately needs retail. It needs to fill large swaths of commercial space that currently sits empty. It needs to fill spaces that have never had a tenant – like the space where the Borders sign appeared – as well as spaces where tenants have left because of a lack of foot traffic, such as the spot occupied by Azul Day Spa, which has been vacant since January.

Sure, this is not the economy to go courting new retail. But the spaces were empty long before the economy crashed.

Perhaps the misunderstanding is all the more disappointing because the developers behind Glenwood Park “get it.” The development replicates the basic patterns of the city. Streets are laid out in a grid; retail and residential are mixed; and there are common spaces where people can congregate, including an internal courtyard with a bocce court that’s the site of a weekly farmer’s market.

This is the type of development that Atlanta needs. This type of development is sustainable, pleasant and inviting. I don’t want it to fail.

To be honest, I don’t care if a Borders bookstore comes to my neighborhood. There are already some great intown bookstores, including Bound To Be Read Books in East Atlanta. I just want more retail in my part of Atlanta. And now that the retail space has been built in Glenwood Park, it needs to be filled. Otherwise it’s a waste, and an invitation to vagrancy.

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Work in progress at 880 Glenwood Ave.

The five-acre plot of land at 880 Glenwood Ave. in Southeast Atlanta is now just a huge mound of dirt.

But by the end of next year, those five acres (see photo at left) will have morphed into a 325-unit luxury apartment complex that will also include retail (sound familiar?).

WSB Radio reported on this green development back in January. (The AJC also reported on it then).

Site preparation, including demolition of an existing low-slung 50s-era building, however, just began recently. The long narrow sliver of land actually runs behind the Shed At Glenwood restaurant in the Glenwood Park planned community off of I-20. The project abuts the Beltline, and fronts two streets, Glenwood and Bill Kennedy Way, also known as the Glenwood-Memorial Connector. The developer is Capital 33, which is working in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land.

What’s notable about the mixed-use development, in addition to the (expected) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, is density.

325 units? That will give a nice boost to density in that little corner of Atlanta. The complex will essentially blend into the Glenwood Park community, which already features retail, apartments, townhomes, single-family houses and greenspace.

People often worry about increased traffic when new developments are put on the table. And I’m sure 325+ new residents will increase the number of cars on Glenwood and surrounding streets.

But more people to me means the possibility of more retail shops and other businesses because there will be more people to support them. And if done correctly, that only enhances a neighborhood, in my opinion.

Density has consistently been an issue for Atlanta. According to studies by the Atlanta Regional Commission and other groups, Atlanta ranks as one of the least dense big cities in the U.S. And we all know now that lack of density pushes more people to drive, which increases traffic and diminishes a sense of community.

The section of southeast Atlanta where the new building is going up is already a study in mixed uses, though not in the way we now use the phrase.

The new apartment building will have a cement plant as a neighbor on its west side. There are several other small industrial companies on Glenwood, and a clutch of old freight trains stand vigil on land that will become the Beltline. And there’s also Maynard Jackson High School across the street! As I said, a jumble of buildings and purposes. The developers sought and received a zoning change last year from heavy industrial to mixed residential commercial.

The building won’t be completed until the end of 2010. What the market will be for apartments and retail space at that point, well, that’s anyone’s guess.

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