After a lengthy City Council meeting, rezoning for The Forum and Town Center will bring about a boutique hotel and 630 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
After what may have been the longest City Council meeting in the Peachtree Corners history, North American Properties (NAP) received approval for both rezoning requests — to add apartments and a boutique hotel to the area adjacent to The Forum and to add apartments across the street in the area at Town Center.
Although a few other items were on the agenda, the lion’s share of the time was taken up with the matter of mixed-use development in what is quickly becoming downtown Peachtree Corners.
In the end, the vision outlined by NAP Managing Partner Tim Perry won over City Council. At issue was the second read and consideration of The Forum Mixed-Use project, a request to rezone 44 acres from C-2 to MUD to allow for new mixed-use development at 5131 through 5185 Peachtree Pkwy.
The request to rezone The Forum to accommodate residential and temporary housing garnered the most community input, but seemingly convinced most City Councilmembers. After nearly five hours of questions from City Council, a presentation by Perry, comments from the audience, rebuttal from Perry and further discussion by City Council, the vote passed 6 to 1 with Councilman Alex Wright as the only ‘nay.’
There were about a dozen people who spoke out in support of the project, mainly from business interests such as the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce, the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber, Explore Gwinnett and Hargray Communications.
Equally, there were close to a dozen who weren’t for the rezoning, but a few qualified their position by saying they were more on the fence than solidly against. “You could put me in the ‘maybe’ category if you had one,” said one speaker.
By the time City Council was prepared for the vote, a few compromises had come about:
- The number of rooms in the hotel would be between 100 and 250.
- There would be accommodations for up to two drive-thru type retailers, such as a Starbucks.
- NAP would work out details for security and the final plans for the parking deck with the city manager or his designee. That portion of the plan wouldn’t need to come back for City Council approval.
The second read and consideration of the Innovation Lofts Mixed-Use project, a request to add 3.73 acres to the existing 20.6-acre Town Center MUD zoning district by rezoning 3.73 acres from C-2 to MUD with associated variance to allow for a new multifamily residential development at 4936 Peachtree Corners Circle, was a separate issue. Still, Perry stated that they were part of the same vision.
North American Properties wants to “…create a true town center around the already magnetic development of The Forum. …The acquisition of both these sites and the opportunity to invest in such a pro-business community with leadership and vision is compelling,” said Perry. “We’ve covered this for a long time to look not just granularly at each one of these individual pieces but combining them seeking density and seeking success for both.”
He added that NAP will invest over $450 million between what’s already been invested in the redevelopment and the multifamily units that it seeks to develop.
The concept of apartments in the Town Center area wasn’t as popular. In the end, the rezoning request was approved, but by the narrowest margin — 4 to 3, with ‘nays’ coming from Phil Sadd, Alex Wright and Lori Christopher.
