Eagles Nest Church will hold the first services in its new location at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sunday. (Courtesy of Eagles Nest Church)
A former Kohl’s department store that stood empty along Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell, Georgia, for nearly a decade has been turned into an 80,000-square-foot church and multi-use event venue after a $28 million redevelopment project. Eagles Nest Church, a non-denominational congregation that operated for more than 14 years without a permanent building, bought the 15-acre retail site in December 2022 for $13 million. The total investment has since grown to about $28 million to strip the old big-box store and rebuild its interior as a modern campus for worship services and community events. Eagles Nest Church was founded in 2012 by Senior Pastor Lee Jenkins. A Roswell resident for nearly 25 years, Jenkins also ran for Mayor of Roswell in 2017. He later spent 25 years on Wall Street as a wealth manager and investment vice-president at companies including Morgan Stanley and Raymond James. In 2009, he wrote a personal finance book published by Moody Publishers.
Speaking about the completion of the new facility in a release distributed through EIN Presswire, Jenkins said the project had turned an abandoned commercial property into a place for the community. His career before ministry was unusual. Jenkins played college football at the University of Tennessee before being drafted by the New York Giants in the NFL. Jenkins also managed Grammy Award-winning gospel artists Kirk Franklin and The Winans.
“This project is about taking something that was sitting empty and bringing it back to life with purpose,” Jenkins said. Jenkins said having a permanent building would also give the church more opportunities to serve the area. “For years, Eagles Nest Church was a church without walls,” Jenkins added. “Now, having a permanent home gives us a greater platform to serve people, strengthen families, and impact our city.”
“For nearly a decade, this building sat vacant. Today, it stands as a place of worship, community, and connection.
New community venue and future development
Atlanta Daily World records show that the church began in 2012, when a small founding group met in a ballroom at a DoubleTree hotel. Commercial display floors and dropped ceilings were replaced with acoustic materials, specialised lighting and stronger structural supports for the 1,000-seat auditorium. Commercial real estate records published by Urbanize Atlanta show that the $28 million investment includes the property purchase and the full rebuilding of the structure. The multi-use rooms and banquet halls will be available for public bookings from September 2026. With the first phase now complete, Eagles Nest Church and Regent Partners are turning to the remaining parts of the 16-acre commercial site.
The opening of the Holcomb Bridge Road facility ends more than a decade of moving between temporary locations. As the congregation grew, services moved to different locations across North Fulton County. Sunday services were later held in a commercial office park, an indoor entertainment centre at Andretti Karting and Games, and eventually the auditorium and gymnasium at nearby Centennial High School. The purchase of the former Kohl’s property gives the church its own worship space while also giving it control of the surrounding commercial land. Future stages of the project, being developed with Regent Partners, are expected to bring Class A retail shops, restaurants, family-focused businesses and a dedicated childcare facility to the wider shopping centre. The conversion of the old Kohl’s store reflects a wider trend in American suburbs, where communities and private organisations are finding new uses for large retail buildings left empty as shopping habits change. Turning a big-box store into a church and community facility comes with both challenges and advantages. Architectural plans reviewed during the municipal permit process show that contractors removed the old retail interior almost completely. The large parking area, originally built to handle busy holiday shopping periods, has also been resurfaced and redesigned to serve church members and people attending events. It is one of the largest private adaptive reuse projects in East Roswell in recent years. The church plans to use the building for much more than Sunday services. Leaders want it to become a community hub for local businesses, non-profit organisations and residents throughout the week. Civic organisations, companies and families will be able to rent the spaces for meetings, training sessions, private events and educational workshops. Environmental and site surveys are underway to prepare the nearby retail areas for future tenants. The goal is to create a wider development with shops, restaurants and other businesses surrounding the new church and community venue.