ARC’s Developments of Excellence Awards Recognize Community-Enhancing Places
Alpharetta City Center is the beating heart of downtown Alpharetta. Its walkable 26 acres are home to Alpharetta City Hall, a Fulton County Library branch, as well as restaurants, retail, offices, luxury apartments, single-family houses, and 2.5 acres of green space. The project is a result of a public-private partnership whose groundwork was laid 15 years ago when the city of Alpharetta first set forth its goals to build a true downtown through its LCI program. In the years since, it has worked steadily to create City Center from mostly underutilized commercial spaces around the intersection of N. Main Street and Academy Street. The transformation is dramatic. The City Center has replaced an assortment of empty lots and underused buildings with a unified building design that blends seamlessly with the surrounding historic downtown, including a network of bike-ped paths that connect housing to schools, retail, and other amenities. The development is designed around five major green spaces. At its center, the Town Green connects the new City Hall to the restaurants and shops of Main Street. City Center has attracted a great deal of development, such as chef-driven restaurants and residential, retail, and offices — including DataScan, whose headquarters now fill 36,000 of a 45,000 square-foot building. The development has important green touches, too. Pervious surfaces — which help reduce storm-water runoff — make up more than 10 of its 26 acres. This was accomplished by replacing old streets and parking lots with green spaces that house freestanding buildings. In addition, pervious materials were installed wherever possible to mitigate storm-water, and an underground system filters storm-water runoff before it reaches the property’s detention pond. This article was first published by the Atlanta Regional Commission on November 2nd, 2018. To read the original posting of this article, click...
read moreHotel proposed for Sandy Springs’ Barfield Road
A 14-year-old plan to bring two new buildings to Barfield Road at Mount Vernon Highway in Sandy Springs has been updated with a proposed hotel. The original designs were approved in 2004 by Fulton County, before the city’s incorporation. Now the developer, MidCity Real Estate Partners, is seeking to have Sandy Springs approve a hotel in place of one of the office buildings, with construction to start next year. The 3.7-acre lot sits west of Ga. 400 and is adjacent to the Promenade at Northplace condo development. It is located at 6403 Barfield Road. There are already several hotels in the area, but Demetrops said MidCity sees demand for another one due to Mercedes-Benz USA’s new headquarters down the street and the new City Springs civic center nearby. “I believe it will be the nicest hotel west of [Ga.] 400,” he said. The original plan, under the name NorthPlace, was for two multistory buildings that have office space and retail on the bottom floor. Under the new proposal, one of those buildings would become a 7-story Aloft hotel, a brand owned by hotel chain Marriott. A hotel is allowed under the city’s new zoning rules, but the developer is to keep the original approval under the old zoning, said MidCity executive Kirk Demetrops. Demetrops said MidCity is seeking a rezoning under the old rules that would allow a hotel on that lot. The footprint is identical, and the only change is the use of one of the buildings, he said. The developer is in discussions with potential office tenants and hopes to start construction on that building at the same time, but the hotel would move forward regardless, Demetrops said. The project has been advertised as available to be custom-built for specific tenants. The project is scheduled to go before the city Planning Commission Dec. 19. This article was published by the Sandy Springs Reporter Newspaper on October 2nd, 2018 and is written by Evelyn Andrews. To read the original publication, click...
read moreCity Springs to Life: Arts Anchor for Sandy Springs new city center
Demetrops is a former owner of the lot where the Adley at City Springs mixed-use project is being built within the City Springs district. He’s also now the developer of Alpharetta’s City Center, a similar downtown place-making project.He said City Springs should be a “tremendous asset for the city for years.” “With our … experience [and] involvement in town centers, we find that there is a desire to create an identity, or personality, for the town center. The Performing Arts Center and distinctive architecture of the entire project, in my opinion, are the unique features,” he said. Read the entire article here: Sandy Springs...
read moreMixed-use development booming in metro Atlanta area
Is Atlanta’s love affair with the car over? If recent mixed-use projects in development across the metro area are any indication, autos may soon become optional. The drive to get out from behind the wheel and walk, bike or hop on public transit is fueling an array of new construction projects with live-work-play themes. While mixed-use developments have changed the metro area landscape in recent years, even more are rising both intown and in suburban communities. Developers are devising projects with retail and restaurant spaces, offices, recreation and residential components. And all include some element of travel that does not involve a car. That fact pleases the staff of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC)’s Livable Centers Initiative, which has been working toward . “The basic premise of the [LCI] program was to get people out of their cars and create this environment where you can live, work and play in close proximity,” said Sam Shenbaga, ARC’s community development group manager. “That program has been successful throughout metro Atlanta, as we now have about 119 designated LCI areas where we want to create these dense, walkable communities. And it’s been happening as much in downtown, Midtown and Buckhead as Acworth, Woodstock and other outlying suburbs.” Establishing these projects may take longer in some areas, he added. “Midtown has had this idea for a long time,” he said. “But sometimes it’s slower to come to other areas where the idea of doing dense, walkable, mixed income projects might be new.” Still, Shenbaga said he is celebrating the successes. “Since the program began in 1999, vehicle miles traveled per capita has dropped by 13 percent, and while it’s not all from the LCI program, LCI has had a big role in making that happen,” he said. “Twenty-nine percent of commercial development and 69 percent of office development has been in these projects that get people off the roads and walking and biking more. They’re in communities with apartments, condos, grocery stores, parks and bike trails, so people don’t need to get in their personal vehicles for every trip.” ARC identifies two groups behind the push to abandon cars. One is the aging population that wants the lifestyle a mixed-use project brings, particularly the ability to walk to services, restaurants and recreation from a one-story living space. The second group, typically including millennials, is the next generation of workers who want to trade commuting time for communing time. That’s the allure of Alpharetta’s City Center project, a 25-acre redevelopment in Alpharetta’s downtown area that is adding 100,000 square feet of retail and 36,000 square feet of office space, along with apartments, single-family homes, parks and a dozen restaurants. This article was originally published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 3rd, 2018 and written by H.M. Cauley. To read the article in its original publication, click...
read moreFocus Brands headquarters in Sandy Springs sells for $18 million
The corporate headquarters for Atlanta restaurant franchisor Focus Brands Inc. has sold for $18.3 million. Crossgate Partners bought the 63,049-square-foot building in Sandy Springs. The seller was MidCity Real Estate Partners, the Atlanta real estate company that five years ago took a chance and purchased the former Crawford & Co. headquarters building when it was completely vacant. Two years later, MidCity struck a big lease with Focus Brands, the franchisor and operator of more than 5,000 stores in 60 countries. Gary Lee, with Marcus & Millichap, brokered the sale of the building, which is part of the Glenridge Springs mixed-use development at Glenridge Drive and Interstate 285. To see the original article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle: Click here...
read more120-room boutique hotel planned for Alpharetta
The hotel would sit in walking distance to the $85 million next phase of Alpharetta’s City Center project that’s bringing 105,000 square feet of restaurants and retail; three acres of green space and gardens; 36,000 square feet of office; and 168 apartments. It’s from the Atlanta development team of Morris & Fellows (retail and restaurants), MidCity Real Estate Partners (office) and South City Partners (apartments). So far the City Center has landed restaurants including a new location of Highland Bakery. Click here to read the original article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle....
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