The last Sprayberry Crossing eyesore to be demolished Archives

The last Sprayberry Crossing eyesore to be demolished

After weeks and months of pleading, citizens living near the former Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center got a resolution following their complaints that something be done about the former SunTrust bank building.

It’s been sitting vacant for about a decade in front of the former dilapidated retail center, which has been redeveloped for senior apartments, townhomes and eventually some retail space.

In the old SunTrust lot, vegetation is overgrown and trash and debris have been also laying around.

But the 3,600-square-foot building will soon be coming down.

An excavation vehicle has been parked out in front in recent days, following visits from Cobb Code Enforcement and and upcoming court date after citations were issued against the property owner, CMG Marietta 2, LLC.

That’s a Florida-based commercial real estate leasing company, which according to Cobb property tax records bought the 0.85-acre property at 2674 Sandy Plains Road in February for $1.75 million.

Located across from the intersection of Sandy Plains and Kinjac Road, the bank building will give way to a Chipotle fast-casual restaurant.

Those plans have been in the works for some time, but the decrepit state of the empty building has gotten worse.

In recent weeks, the violations have included a junk removal truck parked there.

In a post on Aug. 11 on the Sandy Plains Area Residents Coalition (SPARC) Facebook page, Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell said the cleanup has taken longer than intended because initially the “rightful owner of the property was not served properly [and] we had to start the process over again.”

CMG Marietta 2, LLC purchased the land from Hong Tran and Hahn H. Tran, who acquired it from SunTrust in 2017.

Birrell said the Chipotle proposal—which doesn’t need rezoning—is in site plan review in the Cobb Zoning Division and that most departments have signed off on the project.

A Sept. 3 court date was set to hear the citations, but “hopefully all this will get approved and they can start with the demolition soon and begin construction,” Birrell wrote, adding that a land-disturbance permit also has been issued.

It’s been more than three years since redevelopment began on the site of the long-blighted Sprayberry Crossing. The EVOQ East Cobb senior apartment complex began leasing two years ago, and Toll Brothers is completing the East Cobb Walk townhomes.