Four firms to present plans for Doraville GM plant

The four companies vying to redevelop the Doraville General Motors property visit Detroit this week to make their pitches to the automaker.

The 60-year-old plant, which makes minivans, closes Sept. 26. The work force has shrunk from 3,000 to 1,200.

The 165-acre Doraville redevelopment would be the largest brownfield project to date in metro Atlanta, turning an industrial site into a mixed-use destination. Atlantic Station in Midtown is 138 acres, and the former Ford Motor assembly plant in Hapeville is 122 acres.

GM spokesman Dan Flores said the high bidder may not necessarily be the winning bidder.

“Sale price isn’t the only thing,” Flores said. “We’re interested in selling the property to a developer that has a very comprehensive plan … sustainable and good for the community. We want to be known as a responsible corporate citizen.”

The four contenders are the New Broad Street Cos. of Orlando, Jacoby Development of Atlanta, the Sembler Co. of St. Petersburg and Hines of Houston.

The companies signed confidentiality agreements with GM and are prohibited from discussing their visions for the site.

“It’s going to be ‘out of out of the box,’ a singular proposal,” was all Angelo Fuster, a spokesman for Sembler, would say about that company’s plan.

GM said it will pick a developer before year’s end, but Doraville Mayor Ray Jenkins predicted the decision would be made quickly, maybe even this month.

The plant is a dream location for transit-oriented development, bordered by MARTA rail and I-285. Buford Highway, lined with Latin and Asian businesses, and Ga. 400 are nearby.

Jacoby started Atlantic Station, the metro area’s pioneering brownfield project, and this year announced plans to turn the former Ford plant on the south side into an “aerotropolis,” with offices and retail and possibly hospitality serving Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and I-75 travelers. No homes are planned.

New Broad Street founder David Pace led the redevelopment of the former Orlando Naval Training Center, which included environmental cleanup typical of brownfield projects.

Those 1,100 acres are now the mixed-use Baldwin Park. Atlanta-based Post Properties owns an apartment complex and vacant land there.

Pace also helped develop Celebration, the well-known traditional community in Kissimmee, Fla.

Hines is developing Diagonal Mar, an 84 acre former industrial site in Barcelona. The plan there calls for five residential projects, a retail center, three hotels, three office buildings, a public park and a convention center.

Sembler is known for its big-box shopping centers. Under construction now is Town Brookhaven, which is slated to have 600,000 square feet of retail and 1,500 residences.

Sembler also plans to build Town Briarcliff, a mixed-use project off Briarcliff Road in DeKalb County. Town Briarcliff has been scaled down in response to tough economic times and opposition from neighbors worried about increased traffic.

Doraville recently passed an ordinance that requires all new buildings of at least 20,000 square feet to be LEED certified, meaning they must meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The developer of the GM plant site will have to use recycled materials, install low-flow toilets and cut overall energy and water use.

Some in the development community say the costly requirements will make it more difficult to do projects in Doraville, a blue-collar area that hasn’t attracted high rents.