NorthSide.Talk

By Kimberley Walker

March 27, 2007 10:53 AM | Link to this

I am very excited to hear about this new development! I just bought a loft is Historic Roswell! What I am wondering about is when Atlantic Station was built, a certain percentage had to go to low income housing. If you were to develop in roswell would low income housing happen? I do think this is development is a great idea and would clean up a lot of Roswell, especially on Roswell Road!

By goaway

March 27, 2007 11:13 AM | Link to this

Are you kidding? Have these developers ever even driven on Holcomb Bridge? You think traffic is bad now, how is adding thousands more cars and trucks going to help? How about fixing the roads first and then talk about more development…actually how about just stop all the development, because N.Fulton is FULL! There are hundreds of vacant old shopping centers in Atlanta that should be re-developed before any wooded areas should even be breathed on. Also, this whole work, live, play thing is great for in town, but the suburbs are meant for much lower density development. That’s why most people move to the burbs. The city is great, and there are many reasons for people to live there, but it’s not for everyone. Don’t try to force high density development on those who don’t want it…especially at the expense of creating a traffic nightmare and destroying more land. Re-development of decaying shoping centers is the key here. Just stop building for the sake of building. Do we really need yet ANOTHER place to shop? Seriously.

By goaway

March 27, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this

Oh,and Kimberley, how in the world is this going to help Roswell Rd.? It’s not even close to it. You should get a map.

By Eric Vassy

March 27, 2007 1:16 PM | Link to this

This will be the first step in Roswell becoming Buckhead. If that is what you want, go ahead, but I suspect most in Roswell prefer smarter growth than this giant Goat Rodeo that will make traffic worse than it is, blot out the sun for some Martin’s Landing residence, and destroy Roswell’s character.

By Kimberley

March 27, 2007 2:18 PM | Link to this

I didn’t see the map until now, but I still like the idea of the development!

By Eric

March 27, 2007 2:46 PM | Link to this

Kimberly I guess you don’t live anywhere close to where it will be then.

By Peter

March 27, 2007 9:15 PM | Link to this

You act like bringing this development to this area will ruin a “character” or a nice area. Lets be honest, that area of roswell is filled with vacant old strip malls and is need of some economic uplifting. Its time to bring that area something to be proud of!

By Dan

March 27, 2007 10:35 PM | Link to this

The Mayor of Roswell and the developer both agree that if this is built, it must also coincide with the redesign of the Holcomb Bridge/400 interchange.

This area near 400 is blighted. Martin’s Landing and the surrounding older neighborhoods are not aging well. This development will completely revitalize that part of Roswell.

If this is built, the businesses surrounding will be much more upscale than what you find there now. Plus, it will greatly add to the tax base of Roswell.

I would like to see similar projects dot all 4 corners of Holcomb Bridge & 400.

Nobody is suggesting a highrise in the historic district. And this part of Roswell is in no way historic. There is no difference between this particular area and those found along the other exits on 400.

It is the future - and it is time that Roswell move toward that future in a quality project such as this.

By Dan

March 27, 2007 10:35 PM | Link to this

The Mayor of Roswell and the developer both agree that if this is built, it must also coincide with the redesign of the Holcomb Bridge/400 interchange.

This area near 400 is blighted. Martin’s Landing and the surrounding older neighborhoods are not aging well. This development will completely revitalize that part of Roswell.

If this is built, the businesses surrounding will be much more upscale than what you find there now. Plus, it will greatly add to the tax base of Roswell.

I would like to see similar projects dot all 4 corners of Holcomb Bridge & 400.

Nobody is suggesting a highrise in the historic district. And this part of Roswell is in no way historic. There is no difference between this particular area and those found along the other exits on 400.

It is the future - and it is time that Roswell move toward that future in a quality project such as this.

By Brenda

March 28, 2007 6:11 AM | Link to this

When the developer met with the citizens did he present an alternative plan with less green space and lower-rise buildings? I think the citizens have been deceived by the “tradeoff” made in this regard. It doesn’t help the nearby residents to preserve green space along 400. The green space would better serve the area if it were along Old Alabama Rd. even if there were less of it. The higher the towers, the more traffic will result. Let’s face it, very few people who work in these “Live-Work” developments will actually live there long term. Especially not all the workers who maintain that building but don’t make the salaries to afford to live there.

By Scott

March 28, 2007 9:51 AM | Link to this

There is the “work, live, play”, buzzword, but they are not to my knowledge building the “play” amenities like pools, golf courses, tennis courts, etc. to allow any “play”.

2975 houses full of people with nothing to do, yet they include “play” in their tagline? My question would be what do they mean by “play”?

By goaway

March 28, 2007 11:21 AM | Link to this

Apparently shopping is now a sport. Is that all developers think people do anymore? And by the way, I know this area of Holcomb Bridge isn’t the greatest, so why not re-develop the older strip malls instead of tearing down the forested areas to make “green space”? Not everyone wants an increased tax base…i.e. MORE PEOPLE and more congestion. It’s gotten to the point now where developers can build pretty much build anything they want without anyone to stop them. What good is a bigger tax base if you can’t get out of your neighborhood to use any of the amenities it may bring? Enough is enough. Stop destroying wooded land when there are plenty of old buildings to tear down first. I’n not against development…well, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’d rather have no more development, but I understand it’s coming. I just think Roswell and metro Atlanta would be better off with re-development of older areas. Look at how successful Smyrna is lately. Who would have thought 10 years ago that Smyrna would be as popular as it is today? Use them as a model.

By devblight

March 28, 2007 12:42 PM | Link to this

“Goaway” is right. Rehab the old areas first. They are a blight on the area, whichever city.

Redevelop old areas and quit shoving all of this new development “this is for the public good” down our throats! It’s not about “us”; it’s about profit, and developers’ increase at our expense, and “we want your tax dollars” politicians who don’t care about the people; where are decent developments for those at the other end of the income ladder? The housing is getting worse and worse. While old areas are neglected, people are suffering. Building expensive, high-end multifamily housing is not acceptable, nor the solution, but then if that’s all we have to choose from because of the socialist influences in government to take away real property ownership options, this fits right in with those plans. If you remove the “green” to make way for the “green”, the token “green” will not sustain the community. It’s time for political and social change: restore the sanity of leadership by choosing “other” on the ballot, and we won’t need to have these conversations. There isn’t enough space in this forum to have a real discussion and find real solutions.

By Eric

March 28, 2007 2:45 PM | Link to this

Exactly. Why not encourage improvement and development of existing buildings rather than just build some new monstrosity? And how is adding MORE retail (along with an overblown residential site) going to make the other areas look better?

And the traffis solution suggested by Mr. Brown is a joke.

There are two large developments going in on that side of town as it is, that will also add to traffic woes.

IF Mr. Brown is so concerned about the area why doesn’t he invest some of his millions in improving the roads instead of waiting on local, state or federal tax money to do so?

By Michael

March 28, 2007 5:41 PM | Link to this

Roswell was once considered one of the best places in the country to live. If this is built it will never happen again.

By Brenda

March 28, 2007 9:59 PM | Link to this

Well it seems like this development will knock down my apartments. I would like to see something exciting in Roswell but if it’s going to make people have to pack up and move their lives then it will do more harm than good. Holcomb Bridge is a NIGHTMARE and adding all those things will make it a permanent parking lot. I personally think there are better ways to make Roswell more festive!

By dan

March 28, 2007 10:21 PM | Link to this

Realize that this project may take a few years to build out. It’s not like the city council will vote on it and it all 19 buildings will be built immediately.

I expect a set of core buildings will be started on spec. But for all the rest to build out, it will take demand for those spaces, whether they be offices or residential.

As the first phase is built, I expect that the old Home Depot shopping center will pretty quickly start to change. Whether that entire shopping center remains in it’s present form is questionnable. That change will continue until the entire Holcomb Bridge corridor east of 400 down through the new Home Depot site is revitalized.

This is a big project. It will set the tone for all the other development around that side of Roswell. Today, there was an article in a local paper that development is being considered on the NW corner of Holcomb Bridge & 400 (across Holcomb Brdge from the Nissan dealership). Highrises were mentioned for that area as well.

It is going to happen. So, we should embrace it and demand that the developers include the citizens desires in ‘green’ buildings and elements of design. Work with them to get the things that are important to Roswell residents, rather than sit around and resist change all-together.

By just_be_reasonable

March 29, 2007 12:12 AM | Link to this

It is of course correct that resisting change altogether is unwise, and not useful. The piece of land is currently zoned for a handful of 8 or 9 story office buildings. The landowner is making a personal appeal to the citizens of Roswell that they increase the value of his land by changing the rules. The citizens should basically decide how magnanimous they want to be toward the developer in light of the effect that what he wants to do will have on their everyday lives, and act accordingly.

It is a good point that it will take a decade or more of constant construction along Holcomb Bridge and Old Alabama to develop. Hopefully during that time, the value of that land will creep up to produce some tax revenue.

The land is zoned for some commercial already, though less than what is now being requested, so “no development” is an unreasonable position to take — it is a matter of “what development” and balancing tradeoffs in light of the request being made. Certainly a rational balance can be found between the current request and something that is a little more reasonable. New pictures released by the developer of their view of the development are up on the Roswell East website.

By Eric

March 29, 2007 9:22 AM | Link to this

The problem with being reasonable is that developers like Brown have the money pay off politicians, fun city council campaigns and throw their weight around to get what they want… the citizens have… a vote.

In the US of A those things are not equal.

Can anyone here FATHOM what the 10 years of construction to build this faisco would do to that side of Roswell?

By Joe

March 29, 2007 2:18 PM | Link to this

I live in Martin’s Landing. I want to know how this project can move forward without infrastructure improvements. I want to know how traffic is going to be addressed in and around Martin’s Landing (it’s a residential neighborhood and with traffic, it’s going to see a huge increase in drive thru traffic that we don’t currently have). The sheer number of residential units he is proposing could overload our already overloaded schools. Traffic will be unbelievable! If you don’t know the area, you don’t realize how bad the traffic already is - to literally more than double the number of residential units and add in heaven knows how much commercial and retail space will only add to that - well, it will not make a bad situation better, but a bad traffic situation worse. I’m all for smart development and mixed use, but there’s got to be a way to do it that doesn’t poke all the current area residents in the eye.

By Scott

March 29, 2007 6:23 PM | Link to this

Regarding the load on the schools of tearing down the 100 apartments and replacing them with 2975 condos, townhomes, and houses, the developer makes this statement in their new brochure: “Proposed type and number of residential units proposed for Roswell East creates about 50 fewer students for the surrounding schools when compared to the current apartments”

By RoswellBlogger

March 29, 2007 10:55 PM | Link to this

For more commentary on Roswell East and other topics related to Roswell, see my new blog:

http://roswellblogger.blogspot.com/

Would love your comments, suggestions, thoughts, etc.

By Jeff

April 3, 2007 5:21 PM | Link to this

You can certainly blame Roswell for not allowing the Old Alabama expansion (and with the highway subsidies to boot!). We need to quit electing council folks who want Roswell to be the way it was in the 1960’s.

By bphilb

April 4, 2007 9:31 AM | Link to this

Jeff has hit the nail on the head. This is no longer a small town out in the country. The City of Roswell is rapidly approaching 100,000 citizens and we still have elected officials who want to force Roswell to stay rural…not happening. We have big city problems and we should look to big city solutions. The mayor and Charlie Brown have brought forth a plan which deals with a number of problems that Roswell will be dealing with for years. What plans have Henry, Iglehart, Tolleson or Wyniski brought forth. Their solution is to wait for the market to come to them. At least the mayor is seeking solutions. 1. Blight - we have numerous ares of the city which are beginnig to decay. The apartments at the southeast and northwest corners of the Holcomb Bridge/400 interchange is one. Let’s also look at the area around City Hall…yep, falling down. 2. Traffic - There is no argument that traffic has to be a major concern for anyone who travels within or through Roswell. Look at 400. used to be you could tell the time of day by the traffic flow. Now it is stop-and-go in both direction each afternoon and morning. 3. Mid-town - The hwy 9 developments from Holcomb Bridge South to City Hall is a ghost town. We have a design to redevelop the area and no one is interested because of the limited densities available. 4. Tax base - Roswell performed miserably in working together to annex Newtown and the areas surrounding Newtown. With that failure, we have very little opprtunity other than redevelopment to prevent Rowellians from paying even higher taxes. Agressive redevelopment plans must be put in place to prevent loss of services or major exodus out of Roswell because it will be the residents of Roswell who will fax the tax burden. Roswell needs a face lift. The best place to start is to change the council. Look across the dias each week. The faces are the same and have been for years. Jerry Orlans will be finishing 12 years with this term. Tolleson is running to serve 12 years. Iglehart just got elected to a secongd term. The Mayor will seek his fourth term in two years. Terry Joyner has sat in his seat for over twenty years. Wyniski will seek a third term and Henry will serve at least 8 years and I bet you a dollar she will run for a third. Change is a good thing. Eight years and one day is one day too long. Roswell has people who are as equally qualified to sit on that council. Let’s institute term limits and move Roswell forward.

By tom

April 4, 2007 12:26 PM | Link to this

Roswell east is LONG overdue. The section of Roswell that lies east of GA 400 is a blighted area - closed businesses, empty storefronts and decaying, unused strip malls. This 107 acre parcel is sloping, odd shaped and Roswell east may be the ONE chance to revitalize the east end of Roswell. If Roswell east gets the usual treatment from the Roswell City Council, I sugest that Roswell east of GA 400 hold a referendum and seceed from Roswell and join a more realisticaly managed city, like Johns Creek.

By Eric

April 4, 2007 1:13 PM | Link to this

1. Blight – So how is adding more buildings (and straining infrastructure) going to cure the blight? How about the City work up to get businesses into those areas that sit empty before they add high rises. And where will those people in the ‘blighted’ apartments go? Those people who work in Roswell and need housing close to their jobs? When they are gone who will fill those jobs, the people in Charlie Brown’s condos? I think not. Even though he ‘generously’ agree that the people they displace would be given opportunities to purchase his magnificent town homes and condo.

2. Traffic - I’ve heard form the Horses Mouth on this one and Charlie Brown believes a fly over on the west bound lane of Holcombe Bridge will cure all traffic ills… even though that would simply dump traffic on to 400 South faster than it currently does. When I asked him about that his response was ‘Well I can’t fix 400 can I”?

3. Mid-town – That area is in FAR more need of work that Roswell East area. All the East side needs is a traffic solution, not a 3rd large development in a short amount of time.

4. Tax base – Aggressive redevelopment isn’t necessary, smart development across ALL of Roswell is. People live in Roswell for a reason and nearly everyone I’ve talked to wants to maintain a quality of life that they are willing to pay a bit more for. Plus, there are already two major developments approved and on the slate for East of 400. Why don’t we find a place for this giant development closer to the Cobb County line or on the West side of 400? And if new faces are the key to improving Roswell, then let’s ship the Mayor and his rapid flip-flop on massive development out first. Makes me wonder if there isn’t some ‘incentive’ for ol’ Jere that we can’t see making him jump on this ‘Roswell as the new Buckhead’ bandwagon.

I’m going to take a guess here and say that neither of those last two posters lives near the area in discussion.

By Jeff

April 4, 2007 3:53 PM | Link to this

Eric just made an excellent point that Roswell doesn’t really give a rat’s rear end about east of 400. And you wonder why the folks in Area B overwhelmly voted to be included in the City of Johns Creek.

By not_legitimate_redevelopment

April 4, 2007 3:56 PM | Link to this

If he was razing the northwest quadrant of 400 where the tons of run down apartment complexes are, and all the crime is, and rebuilding that, that would be legitimate redevelopment.

However, Roswell East is in the southeast quadrant, and the Roswell East plan is to leave the blighted strip malls in place, remove one tiny little apartment complex, then build all this development where trees currently are. I could care less about the trees, but from a definition standpoint, replacing trees with buildings does not count as redevelopment to me.

By Eric

April 5, 2007 9:39 AM | Link to this

People keep talking about crime, crime, crime… was it not fairly recently that Roswell was voted one of the 10 safest places to live in America? I think people use ‘crime’ as an excuse to push lower income families and working class housing out of their cities and towns.

And one again, building more buildings does not magically make run down and empty strip malls nicer and increase their lease levels.

By Jeff

April 5, 2007 10:44 AM | Link to this

The real issue driving Brown’s development at that particular location is the access to Marta when it extends the rail system to Holcomb Bridge.

By Eric

April 5, 2007 12:48 PM | Link to this

I’m all for the extension of MARTA to Holcombe Bridge… and if any conneced to it at ALL had any brains, they’d take MARTA even further north. But that doesn’t mean we have to have the current proposal of Roswell East to get it. We can have something more reasonible, more fitting with the rest of the Roswell community, with better mix of housing price ranges - but NOT until traffic issues are fixed and ONLY if the City Council and Mayor will work to improve that properties that are already there.

By Jeff

April 5, 2007 5:42 PM | Link to this

Currently ‘Apathy’ is what is more fitting with the Roswell community. With the existing city council folks, you can forget about Roswell having the intellectual capability to get anything done except to propose property tax hikes (and go on bike rides down to the Capitol).

By Roswell on the Move!

April 5, 2007 10:27 PM | Link to this

Some posters seem to be unaware of the very large projects recently approved by the Roswell City government.

This is either because (a) they don’t know about them or (b) they are pretending not to know about them.

Neither option gives such posts much legitimacy.

There are two very large projects recently approved by the city government that cover similar acreage as Roswell East.

One is called “Centennial Walk” and the other is “East Village”. You can do a little googling to find out about them.

Or you can wait until about May 3 and watch the land across the street from Horseshoe Bend and the new office park be cleared out to make room for the new Super Target, several other new stores, and a large collection of new condos.

A tax windfall for the so-called “stagnant” tax base, and a nice little contributor to traffic on Holcomb Bridge in both directions. Maybe a traffic light or too for good measure.

Nothing all that bad about that large development, but with those projects in the pipeline, a declaration that the Roswell city government is inactive is either (a) an uninformed statement that discredits other statements that person may make, or (b) a dishonest statement that discredits other statements that person may make.

The tax cash is flowing in with all these huge projects. Let’s just make sure this windfall is used wisely, not squandered for pet projects.

By Jeff

April 6, 2007 2:53 PM | Link to this

Developers and land owners of those East Roswell projects are the ones who have the real vision. Roswell has a great opportunity to welcome the future.

We’ll be watching in the coming years for the justifications of property tax hikes…

By Galina

April 8, 2007 3:54 AM | Link to this

One more quickie comment, have these developers not checked to see what Alpharetta is doing? Alpharetta is going to have a huge new spacious mall that will rival Chicago, NY & other places with plenty of places to shop that are not available now @ N Point, lots to see, multiple areas to stay, & the list goes on (dining, upscale & med scale), this was to rival Buckhead. I feel sorry for those in Roswell that will feel the tax burden in the years to come from this beginning, because it will be just the beginning, I thought ya’ll were proud of being as Mayor Woods once described Roswell “a bedroom community”, well it can certainly be that because folks won’t be able to do anything but that when they can’t get out of their homes (laughing louder and louder)….

By Jeff

April 8, 2007 11:16 PM | Link to this

Atlanta developed all around Smyrna for years until 15 years ago Smyrna finally got it. Its now a city that progresses along with its vision for the future with careful thought and planning.

Roswell is just now starting to get a faint clue. They may one day catch up to cities like Smyrna who have a superior planning model for development.

By Marc

April 9, 2007 7:52 AM | Link to this

Roswell certainly is a mishmash of random development, but the reality is that population far outgrew the city’s ability to handle it. The Holcomb Bridge Road artery has far too many access points and businesses - particularly those close to the 400 interchange - to allow smooth traffic flow. Another problem is one I’ve called Roswell on for almost a year: the state DOT knocked out the traffic light timing last May, making traffic even worse. Complaints haven’t changed a thing.

Traffic aside, a new development on the East side wouldn’t be a terrible thing. But I do agree that Roswell needs to address its empty shopping centers and other blighted areas first. It did try condemning a large area around City Hall but that was defeated, unfortunately.

By Marc

April 9, 2007 7:54 AM | Link to this

And another thing, yes we do have far too much retail. More malls - in Alpharetta or elsewhere - don’t help at all.