Recent article from the Marietta Daily Journal that may be of interest.
SMYRNA – The city of Smyrna is making progress on redevelopment projects like Jonquil Village, but not without many of the roadblocks being experienced across metro-Atlanta, including a slowdown in residential building, city officials say.
At a Wednesday breakfast sponsored by the Council for Quality Growth, Mayor Max Bacon; City Administrator Wayne Wright; Community Development Director Ken Suddreth; and Economic Development Manager Alan Durham gave a briefing on issues relating to growth and development in Smyrna.
Wright explained tax-allocation districts and why they are important to Smyrna’s redevelopment.
“They are a way to generate high-quality development in a location the market will not do it,” he said. “It serves as a catalyst to redevelopment.”
With a TAD project, Wright said, the government finances the building of private infrastructure and is repaid in taxes the project generates. The right TAD project, he said, can transform “blighted shopping centers that have outlived their day.”
The city says Jonquil Village, at the corner of Atlanta and Spring Roads, is one such project. The city, county and school board have agreed to a $26.2 million TAD subsidy for the 14-acre, mixed-use project. Approval from all three entities is required for all TAD projects.
The mixed-use project is to include a Publix grocery store, office space, an underground parking deck, and more than 300 condominiums. Tampa-based A. G. Armstrong Development is the developer.
Durham said the property is valued at $16 million. After redevelopment, it could be worth $190 million, city leaders say.
The condominium part of the project, though, may need extra help.
The real-estate slowdown, Durham said, is making banks hesitant to make loans for condominiums. Smyrna officials may allow the condominiums to be built in phases, or may allow the condos to be leased for a few years. The city currently has a moratorium on building apartments.
“Our council has realized we’re in a slowdown,” Bacon said. “We’re trying to work with developers in the city.”
In October, Suddreth said, residential-building permits brought the city $667,000. A year earlier, that figure was $6.5 million. Permits for commercial buildings brought in $950,000 in October. Those totaled $4 million in October 2006.
“Smyrna’s not immune from the housing market,” he said. A second TAD project being considered is Belmont Hills, a mixed-use plan for the corner of Atlanta and Windy Hill Roads.
Durham said the shopping center was known as the largest retail center in the Southeast when it opened in 1953. Now, he said, it’s a “horrible underutilization of land.”
The 50-acre site is zoned for general commercial use. Details on how many housing units would be built and how much of a TAD subsidy would be needed are still being worked out, leaders said.
But they’re optimistic.
“Jonquil Village will have an impact up and down Spring Road,” Wright said. “And Belmont Hills will transform the northern end of Smyrna – we’re extremely bullish on Smyrna’s future.”
By Ashley Hungerford
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
Click here to see the article in its entirety.
[tags]Jonquil Plaza, Jonquil Village, TAD Financing, Smyrna Real Estate[/tags]