Hundreds of apartments and townhouses and likely retail space will surround the future U.S. headquarters of Mercedes-Benz in Sandy Springs, according to a state document made public on Wednesday.
Homebuilder Ashton Woods plans 281 attached and detached townhomes, 378 flats, 399 apartments and more than 36,000 square feet of commercial space that is likely to be for retailers. The document also outlines an intent to develop nearly a half-million square feet of office space to be built in two phases, which would be about double the size of Mercedes’ announced plans for their corporate campus.
The new details about the mixed-use project planned on the site of a historic mansion emerged in a Development of Regional Impact notice, a filing aimed at alerting the Atlanta Regional Commission and neighboring governments of large projects so that they can prepare for potential effects such as traffic and demand for schools and other services.
The project is pending a zoning review by the city of Sandy Springs.
A message left for an Ashton Woods executive was not immediately returned.
The office component is likely involves accounting for hypothetical growth for Mercedes, said Joe Cooley, Sandy Springs’ planning director.
The project at Glenridge Drive and Abernathy Road has created angst among historic preservationists who object to the planned razing of Glenridge Hall, the Tudor revival mansion that dates to the 1920s that’s on a National Register of Historic Places.
A petition on change.org to save the mansion has generated more than 700 signatures.
In January, Mercedes-Benz USA announced plans to move its corporate hub from New Jersey to metro Atlanta. In February, Mercedes confirmed its plans to build a headquarters campus on a 12-acre slice of the more than 70-acre Glenridge Hall property.
Mercedes has said it plans a 250,000-square-foot office building, but that it would also set aside room for future growth. The German automaker’s campus will essentially anchor the Ashton Woods development. The Mercedes offices are expected to open in 2017.
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