Big mixed-use project planned in Hall County

A 476-acre development with office buildings and multi- and single-family homes is envisioned for Gainesville in Hall County, one of only a few mixed-use projects submitted around the state this year for local government clearance.

Patrick Clark of Barker Street LLC in Marietta, the developer of record for the Hall project, said Gateway Village would be built on Chiplan Road near the Gateway Industrial Centre and new headquarters for the Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network. The land is owned by a group of investors, Clark said.

Clark recently submitted a “developments of regional impact” form, or DRI, detailing the project, which must clear the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission before zoning and other consideration in Hall County.

Adam Hazell, planning director for the GMRC, one of 12 regional commissions in the state, said there was a noticeable drop-off in DRI filings during the recession and there have been few major mixed-use proposals submitted for review so far this year.

Most of the recent filings have been resubmissions of previous projects, Hazell said. “Developers have decided to now move forward with projects that had been tabled,” he said. “A lot of them are scaled-down projects.”

Other metro Atlanta mixed-use projects submitted for review this year include the Prominence at Buckhead at 3475 Piedmont Road NE and 100 Northpark near Abernathy Road and Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, both in Fulton County; and Barrow Landing at the corner of Highway 316 and 81 in unincorporated Barrow County.

Clark said plans for Gateway Village in Gainesville are moving ahead because of recent redevelopment in the area along state Highway 365, although the developer who will actually build the project hasn’t been decided.