For nearly a decade, the old Kohl’s building at 2342 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell sat empty, at one point reduced to an unofficial parking lot for tractor-trailers. Now the 86,000-square-foot shell has been reimagined into a $28 million church and community events campus, and Eagles Nest Church plans to celebrate its grand opening with services next Sunday.
The transformation caps years of searching for a permanent home for a congregation that has outgrown hotel ballrooms, office parks, and even a go-kart track. As reported by Atlanta Daily World, Eagles Nest Church began in 2012 with a small group gathering in a DoubleTree hotel ballroom and has since worshipped in a business office park, at Andretti Karting and Games, and in Centennial High School’s auditorium and gymnasium before landing at the former retail site. The Kohl’s location had closed permanently on June 19, 2016, part of a nationwide decision by the retailer to shutter 18 underperforming stores, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
From Empty Big-Box to 1,000-Seat Auditorium
The redevelopment reimagined roughly 80,000 square feet of former retail space, according to Atlanta Daily World, and now includes an auditorium seating more than 1,000 people, along with dedicated spaces for children and students. The facility is designed to accommodate weddings, graduations, conferences, meetings, concerts, corporate trainings, and community gatherings, and starting this September, Eagles Nest Church will begin offering flexible multi-use spaces for event rentals, serving the church and broader community seven days a week.
Eagles Nest Church acquired the 15-acre Centennial Village shopping center that includes the former Kohl’s for $13 million on December 30, 2022, purchasing it from New York-based Rothenberg-Rosenfield through its entity ENA Group LLC, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That acquisition laid the groundwork for the eventual $28 million total redevelopment, which the AJC notes reflects the church’s roughly $28 million total investment in the project. The site marks the first phase of a broader vision for an approximately 16-acre campus, per Atlanta Daily World.
A Pastor With a Wall Street and NFL Past
Founder and Senior Pastor Lee Jenkins has lived in Roswell for almost 25 years and previously ran as a candidate for Mayor of Roswell in 2017, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s local reporting. Before entering ministry, Jenkins played college football at the University of Tennessee, was drafted into the NFL by the New York Giants, and managed Grammy Award-winning gospel artists Kirk Franklin and The Winans, according to his own biography published by Lee Jenkins Stewardship…