S.J. Collins Enterprises gave its first community meeting earlier this week regarding its proposed mixed-used project on Church Street about a half mile outside Decatur. The tentatively titled North Decatur Square will feature one of the first 19, and the largest, of Whole Foods’ 365 stores.
Collins partner Jeff Garrison said there would be anywhere from 200-to-300 efficiency, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with rents from $1,000 and up, not counting an unknown number of what he described as “workforce housing.”
“It’s unusual they didn’t have exact numbers,” said Decatur Commissioner Tony Powers. “But my concern is not so much what’s going in there, but how it will affect our city services, our taxpayers, downtown shops and city traffic.”
Both areas including the Collins and the nearby Fuqua development—with a projected 960 apartments—are on Decatur’s 2014 and 2015 annexation maps. But as Powers and others have pointed out, Decatur’s annexation movement is virtually starting from scratch.
Though he hasn’t spoken publicly on the issue, it’s unlikely Decatur Superintendent David Dude would favor adding approximately 1200 more apartments to an already overburdened school system.
Earlier this week Dude told the AJC he’d submitted to the city a number of annexation questions. Though he didn’t specify what he’s asking, Dude said, “It’s quite a robust list.”
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