Dunwoody pulled the trigger Monday on a multimillion-dollar plan to turn 35 acres in its Georgetown district into a multiuse development.
The City Council voted to form a partnership with John Wieland Homes of Atlanta, selling the developer a portion of the property. The company plans to build some 110 housing units there.
The city's 35-acre site is located on North Shallowford Road just north of I-285. It includes a 16-acre parcel, known as the PVC park, purchased last year for $5 million and a 19-acre tract, the site of a former hospital, the city has under contract for $6.1 million.
The public-private development, known as Project Renaissance, will include public parks and trails, private residences and a possible municipal complex with nearby retail shops.
Under terms of the deal, Wieland will pay the city $6.37 million over six years for about 12 acres on the site.
At the same time, the city is moving forward to close on the 19-acre hospital site. That agreement, also approved Monday, calls for the initial purchase of 8.1 acres for $3.75 million. The city will buy the remaining 11 acres over the next two years for $2.35 million.
"We could have never closed and paid the full price for the whole thing, because we didn't have enough money," City Manager Warren Hutmacher said Tuesday.
In all, the city will have paid $11.1 million for 35 acres, then recouped more than half the cost by selling about a third of the acreage, Hutmacher said.
The city is reserving 2.7 acres for future retail, land it intends to sell later to a commercial developer who will construct buildings to house shops and restaurants, Hutmacher said.
City Councilman John Heneghan cast the lone dissent on the hospital land purchase. He objected when city documentation did not note a ground lease on one of the lots that prohibits the city from developing that specific piece of property for the next 10 years.
Monday's action ended more than six months of planning and negotiations that have recently turned controversial. Rumors of the land deal appeared in a local newspaper last February, prompting the city to launch an investigation into leaks of confidential information.
That probe, which has already cost $25,000, led to charges of unethical behavior against Councilwoman Adrian Bonser and the resignation of the city attorney. Bonser denies wrongdoing and has questioned the legitimacy of discussing land sales in closed session.
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