Snellville’s long-awaited ‘Grove’ downtown district starting to take shape
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is providing this content as part of our public service mission. Please support real, local journalism by subscribing today. For decades, the idea of a mixed-use downtown district in the heart of Snellville was only a dream in the minds of city leaders. But that has changed in the last year. Dirt has been turned, concrete has been poured, and steel and wood frames as well as brick walls have begun to rise out of the ground between Oak Road, Wisteria Drive, Clower Street and North Road. These are tangible signs that the dream has begun to turn into a reality known as The Grove at Towne Center. “It seems surreal that we have been talking and planning about this for development for years and to see it finally start to come out of the ground has me at a loss for words,” Snellville Mayor Barbara Bender said. “It’s an amazing feeling and we are approaching a moment we have waited decades for.” Since ground was broken on The Grove at Towne Center last year, a lot has happened at the site. The development is very important for the city because it will give Snellville something it’s never had before: a downtown district. Snellville is working with CASTO and MidCity Real Estate Partners on the project, which is expected to cost about $85 million. The 750-space parking deck has topped out and is now in its “punch list phase.” Meanwhile, a 262-unit luxury apartment community which is being built around the parking deck has been rising out of the ground — there are some parts of the apartment community that are already getting exterior finishes. “I know the ones that they’re already starting to do stone mason work on, they’re hoping to have those available to rent by the end of this year, and I think they hope to have the space fully rented — or at least available to fully rent — by (mid-2023),” Assistant City Manager Matt Pepper said. At the end of last year, Snellville and Gwinnett County officials broke ground on a new, two-story library that will have a co-working space on its second floor and its steel frame has already been erected. The city is leasing the second floor from the county. Pepper said Snellville is working with a co-working company that is expected to fill much of the floor. He hesitated to say, on the record, who the company is since he was not sure the company had made an official announcement yet. “We’re working with that co-working company’s engineer to kind of develop and build that space out,” Pepper said. The developers of The Grove at Towne Center have expanded their plans for the site — but they aren’t expanding its foot print. Two mixed-use, two-story buildings that will have ground-level retail have been redesigned to be three stories tall so additional residential units can be added. “There will be one (building) at the corner of Wisteria and Clower, that’s where we’ll be installing the roundabout,” Pepper said. “And then the other one will be (further up Clower Street heading toward Oak Road).” City officials said the change will add 26 more residential units to the site. Conceptual renderings show two restaurants and three retail shops on the ground level of one building and three commercial spaces on the ground level of the other building. Those renderings only show one-side of each building, however, and they are conceptual so it’s not clear yet how far back the actual ground-level businesses on those buildings will ultimately go. In a statement,...
read moreSnellville completes first structure for new town center
Snellville has finished constructing the first of several structures that will be part of the first $95 million phase of its de facto downtown. City officials gathered this month to celebrate a “topping-out” ceremony for the 750-space parking garage that will be part of The Grove at Towne Center. The $12 million structure sits at the corner of Wisteria Drive and North Road, providing easy access to the new apartments and library branch being built. “We are continually amazed at the transformation of Snellville’s skyline as construction at The Grove at Towne Center continues,” Mayor Barbara Bender said in a news release. The Grove, developed by CASTO and MidCity Real Estate Partners, is expected to open in late 2022. The 18-acre project will include more than 50,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, office and entertainment space between Oak Road, Wisteria Drive, North Road and Clower Street. The new two-story branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library and about 250 units of luxury apartments are included in the development plans. The apartments will surround the deck on three sides and feature an ornamental glass staircase with views of the library, mercantile retail space and Town Green. This article first appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on December 10, 2021 by Tyler...
read moreSnellville approves zoning for Towne Center project
“The Snellville City Council recently voted to approve the zoning needed to move forward with The Grove at Towne Center. Construction is anticipated to begin this summer on the 18-acre project with the Town Center opening late in 2021 or early 2022. ‘We look forward to the new community gathering space, beautiful new Gwinnett County Library and educational/business space and The Mercantile,’ said Snellville Mayor, Barbara Bender. ‘This new town center will create a sense of place we have been missing.’ The Grove will offer shopping, dining, recreation, office space, upscale residential housing, a new Gwinnett County Library, a specialty market/event building, and common areas. ‘All the pieces are coming together on a tremendous public-private development to create a well-deserved town center for Snellville,’ said Kirk Demetrops, President of MidCity. Information: www.snellville.org/the-grove-at-towne-center. This article was first published in the AJC on 01/29/2020 and was written by Karen Huppertz. Read the original...
read moreSnellville signs on to $85 million development with 250 apartments
Snellville leaders signed an agreement Monday to build an $85 million mixed use development as part of the Towne Center project. The Gwinnett city is entering a public-private partnership with commercial real estate company Casto and developer MidCity Real Estate Partners. The project is intended to be just the first phase of a greater development called The Grove at Towne Center. Towne Center is a separate city project intended to create a walkable space in Snellville’s center where people can live, work and enjoy recreational activities. Snellville and Gwinnett County will contribute a combined $30 million to the Grove project, city spokesman Brian Arrington said. That will cover a market building, a parking deck, a county library, work on roads and stormwater systems, and upgrades for walkability and a greenway. The Grove will include both public and private buildings, according to the city. Among them will be a new post office; the U.S. Postal Service agreed in July to move the Snellville post office from its current location on Oak Road to a city-owned former bank branch. The current post office is on land that will become the Towne Center Greenway. Plans for The Grove also include space for a library and a town green. The private buildings include space for 250 apartments and more than 50,000 square feet of commercial space that could be used for shops, restaurants or office space, according to plans released by the city. There will also be a facility called the Market Center, intended to be the project’s “anchor,” according to a city release. What will go inside has not been decided, but one suggested use for the two-story building is having a brewpub on the first floor and an event space on the second, Arrington said. Towne Center has been in the works for years, with pieces incrementally being approved by the Snellville City Council. In addition to The Grove, the city has OK’d plans for a network of walking and biking trails that will make up the Towne Center Greenway and an 88-unit senior living center that will be close to the project’s core. This article was first published in the Gwinnett County section of the The Atlatna Journal-Constitution on April 28th, 2019 and is written by Amanda C. Coyne. To read the original publication, click...
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