NorthFulton.com
Avalon Phase 2 is expected to include a hotel, conference center, office space and apartments.
Posted: Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:20 pm
JONATHAN COPSEY
“Our future is inextricably linked to Avalon... We need Avalon to be a home run.””
DAVID BELLE ISLE, ALPHARETTA MAYOR
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – With a 6-1 vote, Avalon’s second phase was approved by the Alpharetta City Council Oct. 27, paving the way for a hotel and conference center, along with hundreds of new apartments.
Mark Toro, of North American Properties, Avalon’s developer, asked council to approve 276 more for-rent apartments as well as increase building heights for a parking deck, Class A office building and hotel.
Phase II for Avalon will also feature a proposed conference center.
There are already 250 for-rent apartments in the first phase of Avalon, along with 101 single-family homes. Rather than add more park space, Toro pitched in $1 million to the city to put toward any public spaces within 3 miles of Avalon. That covers much of downtown Alpharetta.
The project was approved by council with 54 conditions of approval. These included, among other things, traffic studies, public trails and landscaping requirements.
As well as the office space and hotel, the plan will include plenty of apartments above retail space.
“There is an overwhelming demand for all three aspects [of Avalon] – convention, retail and office,” said Peter Tokar, Alpharetta’s economic development director. “There is also an absolute need for Class A office space. Alpharetta has 10 percent vacancy now, which is the lowest in metro Atlanta.”
Councilmember Jim Gilvin, the lone opposition to the project, said he was concerned over the convention center.
“What is presented to us is not a complete plan,” he said. “The convention center is not resolved.”
The city and Avalon are still discussing details of a public-private partnership on the convention center. As such, Gilvin suggested it was premature to come to council with plans for one if the deal could never materialize.
Toro said the Avalon plan had to be amended to accommodate any convention center since it was not on the original plans.
“There is no promise of a hotel, conference center and standing office center,” Gilvin said. “The only thing I can promise will be built is apartments and retail. Nothing is guaranteed here of benefit to the community.”
His fellow members of council disagreed.
“It’s very different from what we have done in Alpharetta,” said Councilmember Mike Kennedy. “This is a great project for Alpharetta and is exciting.”
Kennedy said Avalon has met the city’s requirements for public spaces, which do not have to be green spaces – plazas, fountains and other gathering spaces count.
Councilmember D.C. Aiken said homeownership across the nation is falling continuously, as baby boomers and millennials are shifting priorities away from owning homes.
“I don’t like the idea [of apartments],” he said, “but perhaps we have found a mix where it makes sense.”
Mayor David Belle Isle, in his comment of approval, said Avalon and Alpharetta are in a close partnership.
“Our future is inextricably linked to Avalon,” Belle Isle said. “Whether you like it or not, it just is. We need Avalon to be a home run.”
Phase I of Avalon opened Oct. 30.
Labels: Alpharetta, Avalon
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Brian Vanderhoff @ 4:42 PM
