Chamblee officials approved a $7.4-million tax break for a large mixed-use project that’s poised to transform a busy Peachtree Boulevard intersection.
On Tuesday evening, the city’s downtown development authority unanimously approved the tax abatement for the Chamblee Manor project. Nearby neighborhoods, especially those along Sexton Woods Drive, have voiced concerns about the project’s density and the traffic impacts it could have on their residential streets, but the Chamblee City Council already gave it their stamp of approval.
The developer, Miami-based Related Development LLC, intends to build 382 apartments, roughly 9,000 square feet of restaurant and commercial space and a seven-level parking garage. As part of the deal, the developer would merge three parcels, make sidewalk improvements to nearby public roads and help extend the Rail Trail, a multi-use path.
Credit: Related Development LLC
Credit: Related Development LLC
The downtown development authority board, which includes Councilwoman Leslie Robson, said this project is likely the best use for this five-acre property.
“I think this is a better project than we would get otherwise,” Robson said during the meeting. “... I think it would be many years before another developer comes along that wants to spend this money.”
She added the developer would add an additional access road along Sexton Woods Drive by purchasing the Pete Garcia Company property to fold into the project. Robson said this would reduce traffic congestion in the area, not increase it.
“I think this development solves a lot of logistical traffic problems that will make it a real sort of node along Peachtree Boulevard,” Robinson said. “I think the Sexton Woods people need to understand that without the Garcia property ... it’s going to impact them so much more.”
Sexton Woods residents showed up in droves to voice their issues with the project during its pre-approval phase. In late December, the city’s design review board received more than 40 emails from residents who worried the project was too large and would turn their quiet street into a busy thoroughfare akin to Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.
The City Council ultimately voted 3-1 to rezone the project site, giving the developer the greenlight to move forward. Ed Allen, Related Development’s senior vice president of development, said in an email to city leaders that the project would not be feasible to build without the tax break.
The downtown development authority board members agreed that the abatement made sense in this context.
“While we don’t let that statement sway us, there are situations where that statement can be true,” Van Pappas, a board member, said of Allen’s email.
The board approved a $6.9-million tax abatement for Chamblee Manor’s development, adding in an addition $500,000 for the Rail Trail improvements. The tax break will last about five or six years before Related Development has to pay full property taxes.
Pappas said the high rate may upset DeKalb County Schools and the county, since they’ll collect less tax revenue short-term, but that it will pay off long-term. Related Development projects annual tax payments will increase to more than $1 million on the property once Chamblee Manor is finished. Taxes on the property are currently about $77,500 annually.
The project is estimated to cost roughly $101 million. The developer still needs to obtain a Development of Community Impact approval from the city to continue its plans, but it aims to have the retail and apartment units open by 2024.
