Brand Properties, a prominent multi-family and mixed-use developer in Gwinnett County, is proposing to build 700 luxury apartments and about 10,000 square feet of retail space on 39 acres next to Seckinger High School in the county’s northern area.
The project is expected to come before the planning commission this winter, said Matthew Dickison, the county’s assistant director of planning and development. The developer is seeking to rezone the land from commercial and agricultural residential to mixed-use and multifamily residential.
Jackson Electric Membership Corporation, an electric cooperative that operates in Gwinnett and northeast Georgia, owns the heavily wooded land.
“It consists of undeveloped land that we no longer need,” spokeswoman Wendy Jones said, adding that details of the purchase-sale agreement with Brand Properties are confidential.
Representatives of Brand Properties and the attorney submitting the rezoning application, Melody Glouton of Andersen Tate & Carr, did not return messages seeking comment.
The land runs along Interstate 85, Hamilton Mill Road and Sardis Church Road west of the high school. Other surrounding properties contain fast food restaurants and a Goodwill thrift store.
“The commercial development would include a decorative plaza area with seating,” the application said. “The remaining portion of the site is proposed as residential development to include 700 units of high-end, luxury apartments designed to attract millennials and young professionals.”
The average unit size would be 875 square feet, according to the application. Amenities would include two pools, grilling stations, fire pits, two pocket parks and two dog parks.
The application cited Gwinnett’s dire housing shortage as an argument for approval.
Brand Properties filed a Development of Regional Impact application, which the state requires for large-scale projects that will affect neighboring counties. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority will make recommendations as part of that process.
Minutes of an August pre-application meeting show the county recommended more ground-floor commercial uses along Hamilton Mill Road.
Officials in Gwinnett recently rejected some smaller-scale proposals from Brand Properties in other locations, such as a 181-apartment complex near Duluth and a mixed-use development in Peachtree Corners with 251 apartments and a food truck pavilion. The company has developed 15 apartment and mixed-use complexes in Gwinnett and is in the process of building five more. Many are on Sugarloaf Parkway or near Coolray Field.
The agricultural residential designation next to Seckinger was adopted in the 1970s, Dickison said, when more of Gwinnett, especially the northern portion, was rural. No one has requested a change since then, although the county’s 2040 plan now places the land in an area where high-density mixed-use development is recommended, Dickison said.
“Multifamily, commercial, restaurant, retail, office uses would be supported by the 2040 plan,” he said.
