Developers are negotiating new plans for a commercial center at Coolray Field after local residents and some Gwinnett County officials objected to recent proposals to scale it back in favor of more apartments.
The Municipal-Gwinnett County Planning Commission earlier this month tabled the developers’ plans until June 5 to give them more time to reach an agreement. Planning commissioners say they’ll wait to see what the developers come back with but aren’t ruling out additional restrictions on the property to protect the county’s $64 million investment in the Gwinnett Braves baseball stadium site.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to present something to the planning commission,” said Developer Brand Morgan, who owns most of the land in question. “They’ll have the final say on what’s acceptable.”
In 2008 Gwinnett County agreed to build the stadium on Buford Drive to lure the Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A team from Richmond, Va. County officials justified the expense by saying the stadium would pay for itself and would spark nearby development.
But the stadium hasn’t generated as much money as expected and might not cover the county’s debt payments in the long run. And except for some upscale apartments nearby, the development hasn’t materialized.
Morgan, who sold the county the land for Coolray Field, originally planned to develop the entire 73 acres around the stadium. But because of the poor real estate market, he said he has not been able to buy and develop all of the land as planned. Morgan owns 54 acres and developer Marty Orr now has a contract to buy the other 19.
Morgan originally proposed building 351,000 square feet of commercial space, 610 upscale apartments and 300 hotel rooms on the entire site. Revised plans submitted recently by the developers for their separate properties now call for a total of 186,000 commercial square feet and 886 apartments surrounding the stadium.
That would amount to the loss of nearly a Walmart Supercenter’s worth of commercial space at the stadium site. The number of hotel rooms would be cut in half to 150.
Local residents and some planning commissioners objected to those plans, saying they were a significant change from the commercial district originally proposed. Residents said the additional apartments would detract from their neighborhood.
Now Morgan and Orr have asked for more time to come up with revised proposals, planning commissioners say.
Morgan said he’s confident the two can negotiate a proposal that is comparable to the original plan, though it will probably have more residential units. Orr, who has said the original plans were never realistic, did not respond to requests for comment this week.
Planning Commission Chairman Chuck Warbington said he’s not ruling out the possibility that commissioners will recommend new restrictions on the development of the property if they don’t like what they see. The county Board of Commissioners would have the final say.
“I think we can find some way to come to a resolution that will benefit everyone around there,” said Planning Commissioner Tommy Hunter.
Paula Hastings, who lives near the stadium and helped rally neighborhood opposition to the developers’ plans, said she hopes the developers will share their plans with local residents soon.
“Our position has not changed,” she said. “We want no more (apartment) units than were originally promised.”
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