After years selling kitchen cabinets and countertops, Ann Garner decided to do what she had always wanted. Open a gift shop. The only question was, where?

Her husband, Len, and she had gone to concerts and events at Suwanee's Town Center. They saw the retail space on Town Center Avenue was filled. Oh, well, she thought, it would have been nice.

Vino Wong/AJC (ENLARGE)

Suwanee's public information officer Lynne DeWilde checks out the view from the Suwanee City Hall construction site, an important addition to Town Center.

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Then, one evening, the Garners parked in the lot behind the main buildings and walked along Charleston Market Street to the amphitheater. Along the way were retail spaces for rent.

Garner contacted Madison Retail LLC, the developer, and in a few months, opened Geraniums, "a gift shop for you, your girlfriends and your home," she said. "I love it here. I've made friends with people who live nearby, and feel I'm part of something, part of a community."

While development has stalled in some downtowns in Gwinnett, Town Center is continuing to grow and expand, with new businesses coming in, staying put and creating a clientele.

Though it's much busier than just a few months ago, Town Center still hasn't lost its neighborhood feel. It's a place where people meet, greet and eat, exercise and enjoy concerts and special events. And it's going to become even more active in just a few months.

A new, 23,600-square-foot City Hall will open by the first of the year, said Lynne DeWilde, Suwanee public information officer. The building will house all city offices except the Police Department, which will move into the current City Hall on Buford Highway.

It will have four conference/meeting rooms and a City Council chamber seating 152 people. And city officials are working to make the building as green as possible, with an LEED certificate. The Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center has such a designation.

Best of all for Geraniums and the other businesses on Charleston Market, City Hall will be just across the street. Bozena Costello, owner of Panache, a consignment store for women and teenage girls, couldn't be happier. Neither can Tyler Hoang, manager of Savvy Nails and Spa.

"We're just waiting for City Hall to open," he says.

Between the City Hall site and Lawrenceville Suwanee Road, Madison Retail LLC is working on the next two phases of its Town Center project. The company is responsible for all the commercial buildings in the area.

Joe Ashkouti of Madison Retail says Phase II, next to City Hall, will be finished by the first quarter of 2010. Featured will be 21,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the first floor, topped by eight condo units.

Lil' River Grill is one of the establishments coming to Town Center, Ashkouti says. He said he would like to find an Asian restaurant and a restaurant specializing in breakfasts as well.

Phase III will be a two-story structure with 12,000 square feet. Prudential Real Estate will occupy the second floor and part of the first, with the remaining space going for a restaurant. It's expected to be finished by September 2009.

"We're pretty picky about who our tenants are," Ashkouti says. "We want to put people together who are going to support each other, not really compete with each other. They're all high-end and upscale."