Alpharetta's Town Center is moving again. The City Council saw a new plan for the public-private partnership that would put the new city hall among new retail, office and residential space downtown.
It just won't be where they thought it would be. The plan had been to redevelop the entire block encompassing the City Hall site, Eagle Gym, and the shopping center and house just south of the city-owned property, about 7 acres in all.
The idea is to create a downtown with ambiance, vitality and personality and create signature city hall for the 21st century. That is where the private part of the partnership, the Solomon Group, comes in. The county owns about half the land, but wants the Solomon Group to develop the entire project. That would produce some savings for the taxpayers in defraying some of the costs of the city's part of the project and at the same time produce stores, offices and townhomes/condos built by Solomon Group to revitalize the city's downtown.
But there has been a snag. The Solomon Group was unable to come to terms with the property owners on the south side of the project. According to Community Development Director Diana Wheeler, the largest parcel of the some 3 acres needed for the project was owned by a group of partners who could never come to a consensus to sell the property.
At a workshop Aug. 11, City Council heard the new proposal.
T the Solomon Group and city planners got to thinking instead of building the City Center along the X-axis (north-south) along Main Street (Ga. 9), why not build it along the Y-axis (east-west) along Academy Street? Under the new plan, city hall would be set back from Main Street with a long, green mall in front. On either side of the mall facing inward would be two office-retail buildings.
To replace the land lost to the project next door, the Solomon Group recommended using city property at the southeast corner of Haynes Bridge Road and Academy Street. This did not please council members much because that parcel had been planned to be a small park.
William H. Foley, president of Foley Design Associates, is the architect from Solomon who presented the new option to City Council. Council members agreed to the plan only as a starting point in a new direction.
Councilman Jim Paine spoke for many on the council when he said he was "not thrilled" with the idea of turning the proposed Haynes Bridge park into a "courtyard" for a new condominium development. One part of the original plan Paine would like brought back was the idea of allowing residential living above the retail on the ground floor.
Wheeler said the acceptance of a plan for a city hall with a town green on Main Street has given Solomon Group its marching orders. The attraction of the plan is that it no longer depends on the acquisition of private property, always a sticking point in the past.
Councilman John Monson said he did not like the plan as submitted but he agreed it was the right direction. He said he just wanted a better plan.
"This is our one shot to this right for our grandkids," Monson said.
City Administrator Bob Regus said the plan was still evolving and would continue to do so until it looked right to council.
"Remember, 120 days ago the project did not look like it does now. I think in another 120 days the project won't look like the one we have now," he said.
After the meeting, council members disagreed with the notion that they were starting over from scratch.
"We're not at square 1," said Councilman Doug DeRito. "We have a good first step we've taken, and we know a lot more about what we want and what we can do. We have come a long way since Barry [the first developer's] proposal."
Monson agreed.
"Now that we have a site plan, the next steps will come more quickly," he said.
Labels: Alpharetta, alpharettas town center, Downtown Alpharetta, new city hall
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Brian Vanderhoff @ 7:50 AM
