The plan was to transform a rundown strip mall in northwest Atlanta into a retail hub, one that would bring a grocery store to a food desert and kick-start the area's renewal.
Neighbors welcomed it. Homebuyers counted on it. But nearly a decade later, they’re still waiting on it.
Moores Mill shopping center, a $40 million project off Marietta Boulevard that includes plans for a Publix, was delayed for years by legal challenges that held up promised public incentives. Then, just as the project regained steam this year, South Carolina retail developer Edens learned that federal money needed to build a 300-yard road to the grocery store is entangled in Washington gridlock.
It’s enough to exasperate residents who say they moved to the area on the promise that the shopping center would revitalize their community. The developer, too, is ready to bring the project to a close.
“We say in real estate that time kills all deals, and there’s no reason we should still be here 10 years later fighting for this thing,” Edens Southeast Vice President Herbert Ames said last month. “But this is worth fighting for.”
Ames said that the firm needs to break ground by early 2016 to keep the deal and its partners together. Without a road, Publix won’t come, he said.
To that end, District 9 Councilwoman Felicia Moore is asking Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, to give Edens $700,000 so that the developer can build the road and convey it back to the city. The funds would be in addition to $500,000 the city has already set aside for the road project.
Moore thinks it’s worth spending the money to get the long-awaited project off the ground, as Edens can finish the work years before a government agency. In her view, the sooner it’s built, the better it is for the community.
Edens projects the development could yield up to $2 million in annual sales tax and produce nearly 300 permanent jobs. The plan calls for the possibility of a residential component, which would bring the total project investment to at least $90 million. Ames said if the city provides the road funding, Publix could open in 2017.
“People will be able to benefit from this grocery store from Bankhead to Buckhead,” Moore, joined by dozens of residents, told an Invest Atlanta committee last month.
Though several Invest Atlanta board members have already expressed support, the project now faces another potential hurdle: Mayor Kasim Reed.
Reed, chairman of the Invest Atlanta board, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that while he believes the development could be “catalytic” for the neighborhood, he thinks the money is more wisely spent on other projects.
Invest Atlanta only has $1.1 million that it can spend on development in the area, and Reed said it would be unfair to use the bulk of that on the roadwork.
“I do think it would be a catalytic project, which is why I did what I’ve done, but I don’t think it should come at the expense of costing everybody else 70 percent of what is left,” he said. “That’s not right.”
The $700,000 at issue would come from the Perry-Bolton Tax Allocation District, or TAD, a special district that reinvests a portion of property tax revenue into development. The theory behind such districts is that new development ultimately raises the property tax base.
He said Moore could fund the project with the millions that her district was granted through the infrastructure bond referendum. Moore said she opted against that because she believes that money should be spent on unpaved roads in her district, and because the bond funds wouldn’t be available by Edens’ timeline.
Reed — who has often sparred with Moore — seemed miffed at the criticisms he’s received from residents over the funding issue. He pointed out that his administration has supported the project. The city has set aside $5 million for the Moores Mill development, in addition to the previously approved $500,000 in roadwork costs.
“All of those people sending me tweets have been misinformed and misled, and we’re going to respond in a robust fashion,” he said.
Moore, speaking at last month’s hearing, said she was unaware of other major projects in her district that needed TAD funding.
“To let this project fail, even for us to be having a discussion over $700,000 for a $40 million-plus investment, is a no-brainer,” said Moore, who was joined by Councilwomen Yolanda Adrean and Mary Norwood.
Several residents told Invest Atlanta that they believe the Moores Mill project is the most important development in their community, an area some described as rundown and plagued with crime.
Many pointed out that they’re more apt to shop in nearby Cobb County because of the lack of quality stores.
Mike Koblentz, head of the Northwest Community Alliance, believes it’s “long overdue” for the city to invest in this part of town, even if it means draining much of the Perry-Bolton TAD account.
“Even though a case can be made that a lot has been devoted to this road, and subsequently to the development, a greater case can be argued that this really needs to take place,” he said in an email. “…It will generate tons of future tax revenue, more than pay for itself and potentially lead to a great revitalization in the area.”
The Invest Atlanta committee that oversees tax allocation districts will meet next week to discuss whether to put the project on the full board’s agenda later this month. In the meantime, a spokeswoman for the agency said it’s meeting with the developer to explore all solutions.
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