Former Roswell Kohl’s Reopens Sept. 6 as $28 Million Church and Events Campus
The long-vacant Kohl’s store in Roswell reopens as Eagles Nest Church’s permanent home, featuring a large auditorium and new community event spaces. This $28 million project brings fresh life to the Holcomb Bridge Road site and offers a unique venue for worship and local gatherings.
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A former Kohl’s store that sat vacant for nearly a decade is about to reopen with a markedly different purpose.
Eagles Nest Church will hold the first services in its new permanent home Sunday, Sept. 6, completing an approximately $28 million acquisition and redevelopment of the property at 2342 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell.
The project transforms roughly 80,000 square feet of former retail space into a church, events center and community gathering place. The 16-acre campus includes an auditorium seating more than 1,000 people, dedicated facilities for children and students, classrooms and flexible rooms intended for use throughout the week.
The opening is significant beyond the congregation itself. Large vacant stores are difficult properties to reuse, particularly when their deep floor plans and expansive parking lots no longer suit conventional retailers. In this case, a former department store has been rebuilt for worship, education, meetings and large events rather than divided into another collection of storefronts.
Eagles Nest plans to begin offering the property for weddings, graduations, conferences, concerts, corporate training and community gatherings this fall. That could give east Roswell a new large-capacity venue while returning regular activity to a prominent Holcomb Bridge Road site.
“We did not simply see an empty building. We saw possibility,” founder and senior pastor Lee Jenkins told the Atlanta Daily World. “We are building a ‘nest’ where people can worship on Sunday, but also a place where this community can come together and celebrate major moments 365 days a year.”
For Eagles Nest, the move ends a 14-year search for a lasting home.
The non-denominational church began in a DoubleTree hotel meeting room in 2012. Its congregation later gathered at Andretti Indoor Karting and Games, an office-park building, Phase Family Center and Centennial High School. During the latest stage of construction, Sunday services were held in the high school gym.
That history makes the new building more than a relocation. It is the first property the congregation will not have to assemble and dismantle around another organization’s schedule.
The children’s area includes its own auditorium and individual classrooms for each grade. Additional rooms have been created for teenagers, families and church programs, allowing activities that were difficult to sustain in borrowed spaces.
The work is also only the first phase of a larger plan for the campus.
Future development could add retail, restaurants, family-oriented businesses and a daycare partner, according to plans released with the opening announcement. No tenants or construction schedule for those later phases have been announced.
If those additions move forward, the property could evolve into an unusual mixed-use destination anchored by a church rather than a grocery store, apartment complex or entertainment venue.
For Roswell, the immediate change is already visible: a long-quiet big-box building is returning to regular use without demolition and replacement. The redevelopment preserves the existing commercial site while adapting it to accommodate a large congregation and events that could draw visitors throughout the week.
Eagles Nest will mark the opening with two services at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 6. The church is calling the celebration “The CrossOver” and asking attendees to wear white.
The grand-opening information is open to longtime members and first-time visitors. A public night of worship is also scheduled inside the building at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2.
Beginning Sept. 6, regular Sunday services will be held at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. at 2342 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell.
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