MarketPlace Terrell Mill

Powers Ferry Road redevelopment projects getting underway

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Powers Ferry Road redevelopment projects

Two Powers Ferry Road redevelopment projects that are considered major efforts to revitalize that corridor are starting to take initial shape. Over the weekend we swung by both to capture the work in progress.

Above is the parking deck for a apartment building at MarketPlace Terrell Mill, fronting Powers Ferry, where a low-slung office park once stood. When its complete, the nearly 300-unit apartment building will wrap around the deck, which won’t be visible like it is now.

Along Terrell Mill Road, the only other structure going up for now is a self-storage building, next to the Salem Ridge condominiums.

Powers Ferry Road redevelopment projects

The $120 million MarketPlace Terrell Mill project, being built by Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, will include a Kroger superstore, restaurants and other shops and retail space. Here’s the promotional brochure and a rendering Eden Rock is sending out to prospective tenants; none other than Kroger have been announced thus far.

Eden Rock partner Brandon Ashkouti told the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance this spring that the timetable for completion of MarketPlace Terrell Mill is around 24 months.

That was before the Georgia Supreme Court in June upheld the issuance of Cobb Development Authority bonds for Kroger, which had applied for a tax abatement that was challenged legally.

Kroger, which will build on the site of the former Brumby Elementary School as the last phase of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development, qualified for the abatements since the land was on the county’s redevelopment list.

The dental office that’s gone up at the corner of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill is not part of the MarketPlace project.

Powers Ferry Road redevelopment projects

Down the road on Powers Ferry, what has been called Restaurant Row is no more. Clearing and grading crews have flattened five free-standing buildings that housed restaurants, with only the Rose and Crown still in business.

Above is where the Rose and Crown once stood. It’s slated to be part of a new mixed-use development by Greystar Development Group, an Atlanta apartment developer, that includes a 280-unit apartment building (Elan at Powers Ferry), and a 170-unit senior living building (Overture at Powers Ferry) and restaurant/retail space.

Rose and Crown closed in July and its owners are running Mojave, a restaurant on Powers Ferry Road in Sandy Springs, until then.

The 8.8-acre tract fronts the entrance to the Wildwood office park. Construction also is expected to last for two years.

A back view facing Powers Ferry and north, at the Windy Hill Road intersection.

 

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East Cobb Kroger tax breaks upheld by Georgia Supreme Court

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development, MarketPlace Terrell Mill, East Cobb Kroger
The Kroger superstore is slated to be built on the site of the former Brumby Elementary School (back right) as part of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development.

A request by Kroger to receive tax breaks for a planned superstore at the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project in East Cobb was given the go-ahead by the Georgia Supreme Court.

The high court ruled in a unanimous 7-0 vote that a retired Cobb Superior Court judge erred in denying issuance of $35 million in revenue bonds by the Development Authority of Cobb County.

The ruling, which was released Monday (you can read it here), took issue with Judge Adele Grubbs’ interpretation of a state code provision that denies validation of such bonds if a project is not deemed “essential” to “the development of trade, commerce, industry, and employment opportunities.”

Justice Keith Blackwell, writing for the Supreme Court, said that provision does not require an “essential” determination for bonds to be issued.

“To say that “the development of trade, commerce, industry, and employment opportunities is an ‘essential’ purpose of development authorities is not to say that anything financed by a development authority must be ‘essential’ to such development,” Blackwell wrote.

Brandon Ashkouti, Eden Rock Real Estate Partners
Brandon Ashkouti

The 95,000-square-foot Kroger store is the anchor of the $120 million MarketPlace Terrell Mill project, which is just now getting underway. Regarded as a linchpin of revitalizing a high-density corridor, the development will include 298 apartment units, restaurants and other retail shops.

At a meeting last month of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance—a civic group—Brandon Ashkouti of Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, the project’s developer, said he anticipated “a favorable outcome” by the court. Kroger initially indicated it may not proceed with the store if it lost in court.

The Kroger store is slated be the final part of MarketPlace Terrell Mill to be completed, ideally 18-24 months from now, according to Ashkouti.

Kroger would be exempt from taxes its first year of operation, then would gradually pay an assessed tax value phased in over a 10-year period, rising by 10 percent each year.

The 23.9-acre property at Powers Ferry Road and Terrell Mill Road was eligible for abatements by being included on a redevelopment list by Cobb commissioners. Only Kroger applied for the bonds.

Last spring, another member of the developer team estimated the project would yield annual property tax revenues of $500,000 for the Cobb County School District alone. The property included some offices and retail space as well Brumby Elementary School, now relocated on Terrell Mill.

Two development authority members, including Karen Hallacy of East Cobb, voted against issuing the bonds, worried about setting a precedent for retailers getting tax breaks.

Last fall, Kroger and the Cobb Development Authority appealed Grubbs’ ruling to the Supreme Court, which did not hear additional arguments.

Larry Savage
Larry Savage

The legal challenge was filed by Larry Savage, an East Cobb resident and twice a candidate for Cobb Commission Chairman.

He cited a state code provision that “gave unrestricted power to the Development Authority to decide what projects would or would not be granted tax abatements and this violates the provisions of the state constitution that require ‘uniformity’ of taxation. There cannot be uniformity when there are no rules.”

Savage said his objection wasn’t “whether the Kroger store was an economic boost but only the question of the constitutional requirement for “uniformity.”

“The Development Authority of Cobb County, and all development authorities in the state, are now free to use their unrestricted discretion in awarding tax abatement deals to any and all projects that suit their pleasure. ‘Uniformity in Taxation’ is toast.”

Savage said he’s not pursuing his case any further because there’s nowhere else to go. He told East Cobb News:

“The Georgia General Assembly could enact legislation that would clarify rules for development authorities. The Cobb County Commission could do the same for the Cobb County Development Authority. I do not expect either would act on anything that does nothing more than protect taxpayers.”

Related story

 

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In changing Powers Ferry Road corridor, citizens worry about community impact

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Powers Ferry Road corridor
The aging Powers Ferry Road Business Park will soon give way to the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development. ECN Photos: Wendy Parker

A public hearing on Tuesday to consider amendments to Cobb County’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan turned into a plea of sorts by citizens in the Powers Ferry Road corridor.

They’re being affected by major development changes all around them, and wonder what will happen to their community in transition, as higher-density commercial and residential projects are being approved or are being earmarked that way for the future.

The linchpin of the evolving corridor, the forthcoming MarketPlace Terrell Mill mixed-use development, was among those properties up for consideration Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

(Read them all here)

The board voted 3-1 to recommend amending the Cobb future land use map for the 24-acre tract at Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads for the Regional Activity Center with a high-density residential node that county commissioners approved last year.

Changing the future land use plan is typically a formality after rezoning, but some citizens who spoke Tuesday weren’t sure what the amendments meant.

“My area has gone through a lot of change,” said resident Kim Strickland, who got emotional as she spoke. “I would like to know how you’re going to change my community again.”

That was a reference to how she says the area has changed since SunTrust Park opened nearby two years ago.

Powers Ferry Road corridor
Apartments and a self-storage facility will be abutting the Salem Ridge condominiums in the back of MarketPlace Terrell Mill.

The MarketPlace Terrell Mill project includes a Kroger superstore on the former site of Brumby Elementary School, as well as shops, restaurants, a nearly 300-unit apartment complex and a self-storage facility.

“Another storage unit in my backyard,” Strickland said. “I’ve got more storage units than Waffle Houses right now. We need to keep low- and medium-density homes that we love.”

That’s a concern that’s been echoed by other residents in the Powers Ferry corridor.

But the area, which includes some single-family homes among a wide array of condominium and apartment complexes, is being eyed for higher-density development, especially of the residential variety.

Just down Powers Ferry, on land known as Restaurant Row, commissioners also last year voted to rezone that property for a mixed-use development, also with multi-family and senior housing, shops and restaurant space.

Planning Commission member Andy Smith, whose District 2 includes the Powers Ferry area, said that the amendment process is simply “looking at matching the future land use to what the zoning already is.”

“We’re not zoning any property here,” added Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams.

CP-2-1, Cobb future land use plan amendments
The 370 acres eyed for future Regional Activity Center zoning is in brown, with the MarketPlace Terrell property noted at ZD-12.

Another proposed amendment by District 2 Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, would change the future land use of 370 acres in the Windy Hill-Terrell Mill-Powers Ferry area from Community Activity Center, High Density Residential and Park/Recreation/Conservation (PRC) to Regional Activity Center/retail service, Regional Activity Center/high density residential, and Regional Activity Center/open space and recreation.

Dan Davids, who said he has lived in the area in a single-family home “for an extended period,” understands that “change is inevitable. But we ask the question: Where do we fit in? We’d like to continue to live in the area.”

Another resident, Nick Johnson, wanted to know why RAC designation was being sought: “What are the plans?”

Smith explained that there’s not a development proposal now, but “there is a vision for that area that it’s going to be developed in a denser way. What it does is allow a more unified development” in the future.

The community also is being affected by the planned Windy Hill-Terrell Mill Connector. A number of apartment and condo units have already being condemned, and commissioners on Tuesday approved a measure to allow Cobb DOT to condemn four more if negotiations with property owners fall through.

A woman wondered if the amendments would prompt her to move, but Planning Commission member Galt Porter said “this doesn’t mean anybody is going to be kicked out of their house.”

Strickland later apologized for the confusion and acknowledged efforts to “better our area” and “not tear down our homes.”

The Planning Commission voted 3-1 to recommend approval of Ott’s proposed land use change, with Fred Beloin, the appointee of new commissioner Keli Gambrill, opposed.

Cobb commissioners will have the final say, voting on the land use plan amendment proposals next Tuesday.

The former Brumby Elementary School site is being cleared on Powers Ferry Road.

 

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East Cobb mixed-use properties among future land use proposals

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill properties, MarketPlace Terrell Mill, East Cobb mixed-use developments

Two notable East Cobb mixed-used developments approved during the last two years are located on property that county commissioners will be considering this month as part of their annual Comprehensive Plan updates.

They include land zoned last year for the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project (above) at Terrell Mill and Powers Ferry roads, and for the Sandy Plains Marketplace on the former Mountain View Elementary School site on Sandy Plains Road that was rezoned in late 2017.

Commissioners don’t hear zoning cases in January, but they adopt amendments, including future land use changes, to the 2040 Cobb Comprehensive Plan.

The first of two public hearings on the proposed amendments is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. by the Cobb Planning Commission. Cobb commissioners will hold a hearing and adopt any changes at 9 a.m. on Jan. 15.

Both meetings are in the second-floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

(Here’s a link to the complete agenda.)

Revising the future land use plan is fairly routine following zoning cases. But those East Cobb cases, along with other proposed future land use plan amendments up for consideration, reflect lingering issues over density in the area, and the county in general.

The MarketPlace Terrell Mill project—which is to include a Kroger superstore, nearly 300 apartment units, restaurants and retail space—was opposed by residents of a nearby condominium complex.

Others opposed the assemblage of 24 acres that included the former Brumby Elementary School site into the Regional Retail Commercial category, a rare one in Cobb County that is denser than most surrounding property in a busy commercial corridor.

The future land use designation for the land is Regional Activity Center with high-density residential.

The MarketPlace Terrell Mill Project is regarded as a linchpin of redevelopment in the Powers Ferry corridor.

In its analysis for the future land use plan amendments, however, Cobb community development staff noted that “considering the changing conditions on site and the intensity that the proposed development will generate, a more appropriate future use designation may be Regional Activity Center with a sub-category of high density residential (RAC/hdr).”

The “changing conditions” is a reference Kroger’s attempts to seek tax breaks from the Development Authority of Cobb that were invalidated by a Cobb judge last fall. The grocery chain has appealed as other parts of the $120 million project are underway.

Also under construction is the Sandy Plains Marketplace project. Ground-clearing has begun, and all that’s left of the old Mountain View school is the sign at the entrance.

Sandy Plains Marketplace

That project will include a Publix GreenWise Market as its anchor, and other tenants have been announced.

The current future land-use designation is public institutional, since it was a school site. The proposed amendment would change it to the Community Activity Center category that matches the rezoning change.

Some residents of an adjoining neighborhood expressed concerns about some aspects of the project, including a three-story self-storage facility that would be constructed near their property lines.

Another high-density East Cobb rezoning is on the proposed amendment list. That’s four acres on Olde Towne Parkway that were converted from Community Activitity Center to High Density Residential.

Commissioners approved rezoning to RM-12 for four-story townhomes that nearby residents said were too high and too intense for the area.

Cobb commissioners have proposed several future land use plan amendments. Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb is proposing changing 370 acres in the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill-Delk Road area to a mixture of designations.

Currently the land (map below), which houses a number of commercial and multi-family developments, is designated for Community Activity Center, High Density Residential and Park/Recreation/Conservation (PRC).CP-2-1, Cobb future land use plan amendments

He wants that property to be reclassified to the following categories: Regional Activity Center/retail service, Regional Activity Center/high density residential, and Regional Activity Center/open space and recreation.

The area includes some of the planned Windy Hill-Terrell Mill Connector project and a proposed extension of the Bob Callahan Trail network along Rottenwood Creek.

Other proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments would designate land purchased by commissioners last year for future green space to PRC. They include properties on Ebenezer Road and part of the Tritt property next to East Cobb Park.

 

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Top East Cobb stories for 2018: Comings and goings in restaurants, businesses and development

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top East Cobb stories for 2018, Sprayberry Crossing
Citizens living near the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center demanded county officials do something about the property that has been blighted for years. (ECN file)

We’re starting off our compilation of top East Cobb stories for 2018 with a rundown of what opened and closed in the community this year, especially restaurants, other notable businesses and zoning and development matters.

These are based on reader trends as well as newsworthiness. As you can see, this was quite the year in East Cobb for these subjects, especially restaurants and some major zoning cases that could establish changing development trends.

Two major redevelopment projects in the Powers Ferry Road corridor were approved this year, and they’re slated to transform an area that’s being revived due in part to its proximity to SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta.

Those projects weren’t without their critics, concerned about high density and traffic that’s a growing issue elsewhere in East Cobb and beyond.

Citizens fed up with years of inaction over the run-down Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center organized a community meeting that drew many county officials, but nothing has happened despite a court order.

Zoning and development

Ming's Asian Kitchen Opens, East Cobb restaurants
Ming’s Asian Kitchen, at Lower Roswell and Woodlawn, was among the newcomers to the East Cobb dining scene in 2018. (ECN file)

Restaurant news

Burger's Market closing
Vine-ripe tomatoes are among the popular produce items that have drawn customers to Burger’s Market since the 1970s. (ECN file)

Other business news

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Cobb school board members briefed about new Kroger Terrell Mill tax abatement

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development, MarketPlace Terrell Mill, Kroger Terrell Mill tax abatement

The day after the Cobb Development Authority approved issuing $35 million in bonds for a tax abatement for a portion of a new East Cobb commercial project, developers’ representatives explained the situation to the Cobb Board of Education.

The school board is typically briefed on tax breaks heard by the authority, due to their impact on school tax revenue.

The developers of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill, a mixed-use retail and residential development on the site of the present Brumby Elementary School, were seeking a break for the portion of the project that is to include a Kroger superstore.

Brian Fratesi, a vice president for Connolly Investments and Development, which is building the project, said during a school board work session Thursday that MarketPlace Terrell Mill is “a gateway to East Cobb.”

The abatement would cover only the Kroger portion of the $120 million project, which was approved in February in a zoning case by the Cobb Board of Commissioners. The 23.9 acres at the northwest corner of Terrell Mill Road and Powers Ferry Road includes aging commercial, shops, restaurants and office space.

Brumby is relocating to a new campus on Terrell Mill Road in August, and its sale prompted the MarketPlace project, seen as a linchpin of redevelopment in the Powers Ferry corridor.

Fratesi said the Cobb County School District currently gets around $34,000 in annual tax revenues from existing commercial activities on that site.

By the time the tax abatement period ends, 11 years after it begins, he estimated the school district would receive more than $500,000 a year in tax revenues from MarketPlace complex.

The Kroger store would be exempt from taxes its first year of operation, then would gradually pay an assessed tax value phased in over a 10-year period, in rising increments of 10 percent each year.

Fatesi said the Kroger is slated to be in the second phase of the project, with the first phase calling for the construction of restaurant and retail space, a self-storage unit and a nearly 400-unit luxury apartment complex.

When asked about the rental units’ impact on school enrollment, Fatesi said it would be minimal, since they’re expensive, one- and two-bedroom apartments being marketed primarily to Millennials and downsizers.

The MDJ reported that two members of the Development Authority voted against the bonds, including Karen Hallacy of East Cobb, concerned about a precedent being set by retailers for getting tax abatements.

But two East Cobb board members were ecstatic. Scott Sweeney, whose Post 6 includes the Powers Ferry area, said the MarketPlace proejct “will help our tax digest in the long run.”

He said that the per-student share coming from commercial tax revenue in Marietta City Schools is higher than Cobb’s, at around $1,400 a year, because of what that city derives from its commercial digest.

“I do like the project,” said board member David Banks of Post 5 in Northeast Cobb. “It’s good and I think the whole county will benefit.”

Fatesi said the first phase of MarketPlace could break ground by August or September, with completion expected 18-24 months after that. The Kroger would be completed in another 18 to 24 months, he said.

The board also heard outlines of another proposed tax abatement for a manufacturing company that is looking to expand its operations to near SunTrust Park and The Battery.

A research and development facility would bring more than 800 high-paying jobs in what’s being dubbed “Project Dashboard.” The company, which is seeking more than $260 million in development bonds for a tax abatement, is not being identified for the moment.

Jack DiNardo, a commercial real estate relocation expert who represents the company, told board members discussions on its potential Cobb move are in “progress,” and that a decision could come “sometime this summer.”

He said a requested tax abatement would be for $21 million.

 

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development leads off Tuesday Cobb commissioners zoning hearing

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development, MarketPlace Terrell Mill

If you plan to attend Tuesday morning’s Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing, you need to get there well in advance. The proposed Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development is the first item on the agenda, and it’s expected to attract a full house.

Two homeowners associations on either side of the Z-12 application by SSP Blue Ridge LLC are urging their members to show up early. The hearing (agenda summary here) starts at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor meeting room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

After more than a year’s worth of delays since the initial filing, the proposed development by Eden Rock Real Estate Partners for what’s being called the MarketPlace at Terrell Mill may finally get a resolution.

The 24 acres at the northwest corner of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill currently includes Brumby Elementary School and an aging office park and strip shopping center. The proposed $120 million project would include a Kroger superstore, restaurants and retail space, and the most contentious parts of the application, a 298-unit apartment complex and self-storage facility.

The Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval of the application on Feb. 6, but made some significant changes to a last-minute zoning category request by the developer. The board approved rezoning to community retail commercial (CRC) and RM-16.

The latest agenda released on Thursday, the deadline for making any formal changes, didn’t include anything new.

Related coverage

To the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a citizens group that supports the project, the planning board “tweaks” do not make the proposal viable. The organization sent out a notice over the weekend that saying that Z-12 “is not a cinch to be approved. There is a real risk the community could lose this huge opportunity for long-overdue revitalization of its commercial core.”

The group is asking the commissioners to approve the project as the developer submitted, with a request for the planned village community (PVC) designation.

The alliance warned in its message that if the MarketPlace at Terrell Mill project is not approved, “the developers will have no choice but to walk away.”

Eden Rock partner Brandon Ashkouri said at the planning commission hearing that the latest site plan is the 61st version of the project, which has taken more than three years to put together. The relocation of Brumby to Terrell Mill Road next year was the final piece of the puzzle, and that’s where the Kroger store would be located.

The Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance is gathering at the Cool Beans coffee shop (31 Mill Street) near the Marietta Square, from 7:30-8:30 Tuesday morning before the zoning hearing.

The Salem Ridge Homeowners Association represents residents in a condominium complex next to the proposed development, and in particular the apartments and storage facility they say are too dense and too close to their homes.

They’re also urging their members to attend Tuesday’s hearing to protest a project they also say will add too much noise and traffic to a clogged intersection:

“We care and support regulated development. Redevelopment is a necessity. We only ask for the zoning commission to comply with the Powers Ferry Master Plan, established codes/statutes and laws already in force for parcels like MarketPlace at Terrell Mill.

“The developers have been cooperative, yet unless our objections and stipulations are recorded and in writing, we will not be protected.”

The storage facility request will be taken up later in the hearing, and the case number is SLUP-8. Cobb requires self-storage facility requests to be granted special land-use permits, even if they’re part of larger developments.

Another special land-use permit request for another proposed storage facility in East Cobb is on the commissioners agenda Tuesday. SLUP-3 would permit a three-story building on the site of the former Mountain View Elementary School on Sandy Plains Road.

It would be part of mixed-use development approved last fall. Despite community opposition, the self-storage facility was recommended for approval by the planning commission (previous East Cobb News post here).

 

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road development gets OK from Cobb Planning Commission, with changes

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road development
The Cobb Planning Commission is recommending a height reduction of apartments at the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development (in back, center) to three stories.

The Cobb Planning Commission is recommending approval of a Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road development that’s been held up for months, but made some changes Tuesday before sending it along for formal action later this month.

By a 4-1 vote the planning board approved rezoning a 23.9-acre tract at the northwest corner of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill to community retail commercial (CRC) and multifamily residential (RM-16).

It’s slated to become what its developer, Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, is calling the MarketPlace at Terrell Mill, anchored by a Kroger superstore, and to include restaurants, retail shops, and an apartment building and a self-storage facility.

Eden Rock was requesting a Planned Village Community (PVC) designation after the commission held the application in December. Eden Rock initially sought CRC and urban condominium (UC), but sought a new category that would reduce proposed variances from 21 to 10 and made other changes.

Those changes weren’t enough to sway some planning commissioners and residents of the Salem Ridge condominiums, which are adjacent to the proposed apartments and self-storage building.

After a lengthy discussion, the planning commission included a set of stipulations in its recommendation that would reduce the height of the apartment building to three stories from four, and a maximum of around 220 units in all. The latest site plan had cut that number from 350 to 298.

“I don’t think this is too intense at all,” said planning commission Mike Terry, who represents District 2, which includes the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill area.

His motion to approve PVC rezoning was voted down before planning commissioner Judy Williams moved to delete that category and replace it with CRC and RM-16.

As he has stated often during the long-delayed application process, Terry said that the Eden Rock proposal—an assemblage of property that includes the current site of Brumby Elementary School—is a key to reviving the Powers Ferry area, especially with the nearby relocation of the Atlanta Braves having provided a spark.

“This is vital to revitalize this whole corridor,” he said. “If this collapses, we’ll have a hodgepodge [of potential future development] . . . and would have the same thing we’ve got now.

“I want this community to be revitalized, and this is the first bite of the apple we’ve had.”

The development has been supported by the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a civic group. But Salem Ridge residents echoed their concerns about density, traffic and potential noise from the complex, including an outdoor swimming pool planned for the roof of a parking deck next to the apartment building.

They also objected to the PVC request, which mandates a 50-acre minimum.

“This request just doesn’t fit,” said Salem Ridge resident Amy Patricio. “It’s too dense, and it doesn’t fit the code or the master plan.”

Planning commissioner Thea Powell, the lone dissenting vote, agreed, even after previously saying that “this not a PVC case.”

The Eden Rock proposal has been more than three years in the making. Partner Brandon Ashkouri said the site plan that was heard Tuesday was the 61st version of the project.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will make the final decision on the application on Feb. 20.

 

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Developers of proposed Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project seek new zoning category

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MarketPlace Terrell Mill rendering, Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project
A new rendering of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project, which goes before the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday.

In December the Cobb Planning Commission decided to hold a zoning application for a major Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project that was opposed by some nearby condominium dwellers.

When the case goes back before the planning board Tuesday, the proposed redevelopment will come with a request for a new zoning category and will bear a new name.

What had been tentatively called the Terrell Mill Towne Center is now being dubbed MarketPlace Terrell Mill.

Related coverage

The proposed mixed-used project still covers nearly 24 acres at the northwest intersection of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads, and includes the site of the soon-to-be-vacated Brumby Elementary School.

It would still be anchored by a Kroger superstore, along with restaurants, retail shops, as well a high-density apartment complex and self-storage building that have been opposed by residents of the adjacent Salem Ridge condominiums.

Instead of seeking community retail commercial (CRC) and urban condominium (UC) rezoning, the developers are now asking for the designation of planned village community (PVC), a rare category in use in Cobb County.

The attorney for the applicant, SSP Blue Ridge LLC, said a “huge amount of changes” also include settling on Colonial-style architecture throughout the development, and “tilting” the singular apartment building 180 degrees from the original proposal to alleviate concerns by nearby residents.

Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project
The rendering from Terrell Mill Road, with the proposed self-storage building in the front of a 298-unit apartment building. The Salem Ridge condominiums are to the left.

Instead of more than 20 variances in the initial request, the PVC would reduce those variances to around 10 or so, according to Garvis Sams, who represents the applicant.

Some Salem Ridge residents who opposed the rezoning in December think the new request is improved, but are still worried about traffic and density issues.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but I don’t think this is it,” said Salem Ridge resident Robert Thompson, who spoke against the proposal at the planning commission hearing in December.

While he understands the need to redevelop the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill intersection, and that “a lot of wheels are in motion,” he thinks the developers haven’t come far enough in addressing his concerns.

The number of apartment units have been reduced from 350 to 298, and the building has been reduced from five to four stories. The adjacent self-storage facility would be three stories, also with the same architecture (see revised site plan below).

MarketPlace Terrell Mill site plan

The Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a civic group formerly named the Terrell Mill Community Association, has supported the project all along, and urged members to attend Tuesday’s hearing “to help show that the PFCA has a role in supporting positive change in the community!”

One of the variances is significant. To get PVC zoning, a piece of property must be at least 50 acres. The Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill land isn’t half that.

Sams said a waiver request from that minimum acreage is included in a stipulation letter sent Jan. 23 to the Cobb zoning staff, which is recommending approval of the rezoning.

Noting the geographical reality of the property, Sams said the most recent PVC rezoning in Cobb—the West Village Smyrna project approved 13 years ago—also comes in under 50 acres.

Here’s a PDF of the stipulation letter submitted to the Cobb zoning staff that includes the revised site plan.

The Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

The planning board’s recommendation is advisory; the final decision is up to the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Feb. 20.

 

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