Public concerns spur Alpharetta to reconsider MetLife project

By Patrick Fox

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Opponents of a 47-acre mixed-use development at Haynes Bridge Road and Ga. 400 breathed a sigh of relief Monday night after the Alpharetta City Council voted to table the application for another month.

Council members balked at a request by MetLife/Peridot to build the complex after a number of residents complained they didn't have enough notice to mount an informed argument.

"There's been a lot of good comments here . . . from concerned residents," said Council member Doug DeRito. "I think they need to be addressed with full transparency, full understanding, so the night we do vote, we're voting on a set of facts that are pretty clear to the public."

Council member Jim Payne agreed, saying residents were confused over how much residential development the city code allows on a property because the information isn't up to date on the city's website.

MetLife has owned the Haynes Bridge property for more than 20 years and moved its regional headquarters to the site in 1998. It occupies one of three six-story office buildings on the campus.

Plans for the balance of the property call for 40,000 square feet of restaurant space, 70,000 square feet of retail, a 211-room hotel, 447,200 square feet of office use and 470 condominiums. Plans also include parking decks.

"There are 282 condominiums listed for sale in Alpharetta today and last month only 14 of those actually sold," said resident Jim Gilvin. "So as you decide whether to approve 500 more condos, know that there is already two years’ worth of condominium inventory and that doesn’t include the 1200 condominiums this council has already approved but haven’t been built because the market is saturated."

Other residents pointed to a nearby mixed-use development, Prospect Park, that never got off the ground.

That 90-acre project, at Old Milton Parkway and Ga. 400, first went before the Alpharetta City Council in 2005.

But work stalled in 2009 after the developer had cleared the site of trees to put in a road. The property now sits abandoned, owned by the bank.

Not all sentiment was against the MetLife project Monday.

Alpharetta businessman Larry Attig urged the council to approve the application saying the project would signal other developers that the city stands in favor of growth.

"MetLife is a Fortune 500 company with a great vision," he said, "and they'll start this project when the time's right."

The council did approve a variance to allow the developer to "pipe" a stream on the property as long as a minimum of land is disturbed. The process will allow the developer to channel the stream through a pipe underground and build atop the area.
MetLife representative Paul Folger told council members that the company's federal permit to channel the stream was set to expire next year, and a decision had to be made soon.

Officials with MetLife had no statement on Monday night's decision.