Four business partners plan to purchase a mansion on Roswell’s Canton Street and make it an upscale private club with restaurants and amenities, and an annual membership costing up to $10,000.
The partners have a contract for about $3 million to purchase Roswell’s Founders Hall, built in the 1870s. Finishing the development will cost another estimated $7 million to $10 million, according to Scott Rosenblum with Hugo Posh, an Atlanta-based technology holding company.
Rosenblum and two other partners from Hugo Posh are joining with Todd Rushing of Concentrics Restaurants group of Atlanta to build the private club. Rushing is known for his popular restaurants including Two Urban Licks, located in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward.
The group is working with an architect on designs to present to Roswell City Council in the coming months, Rosenblum said. The project would likely be completed by late 2022 or early 2023, he added.
Founders Hall is on Canton Street steps away from Crazy Love Coffee House, Osteria Mattone, Little Alley Steak and other restaurants.
The antebellum-style mansion is privately owned by Branch Founders Hall Associates limited partnership and has operated for years as an event facility. Rosenblum and his partners plan to transform the 9,000-square-foot space into a private club that would compare to a tranquil Napa Valley resort, he said.
“We’ve been working on the concept for a long time,” Rosenblum said of plans for the property. “We’re honing it down.”
The Roswell resident said he and his partners had considered a larger property before the pandemic, but more laidback getaways have drawn greater appeal as lifestyles have changed over the last year.
Rosenblum said the private club would seek a diverse membership that attracts people locally and from across the Southeast.
“It’s quaint,” he said of Roswell. “If you think of typical places people like to go to for (rest and relaxation) — Napa, Blue Ridge, Naples or Boca (Raton), Florida — they are a little out of the way. Roswell is perfect. (Canton Street) is a neighborhood, which has grown organically.”
The small, private club would have about 10 outdoor cabana-style bungalows for daytime or overnight stays and open up to a swimming pool, Rosenblum said. Plans also include a separate structure for a 3,000-square-foot spa with a rooftop for sunbathing.
Inside, plans include two restaurants by Rushing who said he’s considering a new American cuisine for the main dining room.
There’s also a hidden speakeasy planned for the basement.
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