UrbanizeAtlNewsBot

UrbanizeAtlNewsBot

Big multi-tower project enters pipeline near Braves Stadium, Battery Josh Green Wed, 09/11/2024 - 13:29 A development proposal once envisioned as a new gateway into the City of Smyrna near the Atlanta Braves’ mixed-use mecca has grown significantly larger behind the scenes—to the tune of nearly a half-billion dollars in expected project costs.

That’s according to filings made this week by Roswell-based developer RASS Associates with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs that outline what’s now called “South Spring,” a proposed multi-building hub within walking distance of The Battery Atlanta.

South Spring would rise from vacant land the city has long eyed for economic development at 2800 and 2810 Spring Road in Smyrna, where another, smaller project called The Emerson Center was put together by the same developer as the pandemic ebbed in 2021.

The main two structures at South Spring would rise up to 20 stories and include 650 multifamily units. That would be surrounded by a 10 to 12-story structure with a mix of 250 hotel rooms and roughly 200,000 square feet of offices.

Elsewhere, plans call for two buildings standing two stories with 175,000 square feet of commercial space, in addition to a public plaza and park area, according to the DRI filing.

Beneath all of it would be a 1,700-space, underground parking garage that one development official described to the AJC this week as being like “Atlantic Station on steroids."

Proposed location of the South Spring site in relation to Truist Park’s mixed-use district and other Cobb County landmarks. Google Maps

The DRI filing, submitted Monday, is an initial step required by the state for developments large enough in scale to potentially impact local governments. Tentative plans call for finishing the project in 2028, per that paperwork.

The 8.7-acre site is near the point where U.S. Highway 41 crosses under Interstate 285, about a mile southwest of Truist Park’s gates. The property has been cleared of low-rise buildings between Holiday Inn Express Atlanta Galleria and the iFly Indoor Skydiving facility, near the Cumberland/Galleria district.

As the AJC reports, RASS Associates’ more vertical plans are projected to cost $492 million just down the road from the mixed-use growth spurt underway outside the walls of the Braves’ ballpark. Developers told the newspaper their goal is to complement and not compete with The Battery, while also capitalizing on buzz and investment in the broader Cumberland area.

Smyrna city officials have annexed most of the property in hopes of creating a new front door and would need to approve zoning to allow for buildings over 95 feet tall—a process that isn’t expected to start until early 2025, once the DRI application is vetted by the state, according to the AJC. (The publication has posted preliminary renderings for South Spring here.)

The 8.7-acre property in August, as seen looking north on Spring Road toward The Battery Atlanta. Google Maps

Should the South Spring project move forward as planned, it would be significantly more ambitious than the $125-million vision put forward in 2021.

Back then, RASS Associates’ scope called for an eight-story Hilton with 188 rooms, one five-story apartment complex, about 37,000 square feet of space for shops and restaurants, and a 546-space parking garage to service it all.

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