The Gwinnett Village CID is courting developers to transform a 175-acre Norcross industrial site into a sprawling office, retail and residential complex.
A new study of the property at I-85 and Jimmy Carter Boulevard also envisions a light rail station, a 10-story hotel and a park at the site.
The development outlined in the consultant’s report is more a concept than a specific proposal. It could take 10 to 15 years to develop, if it happens at all. And significant financing, zoning and other hurdles remain.
However, Chuck Warbington, executive director for the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, said he hopes to attract a private developer to the project in the next six to 12 months.
“This is a real project that has real potential based on the folks that we’ve talked with,” Warbington said.
Gwinnett Village is a community improvement district that represents about 550 commercial property owners. The property owners have agreed to tax themselves to pay for infrastructure, public safety and aesthetic improvements.
District officials recently commissioned Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. to review property owned by optical fiber manufacturer OFS. The company plans to continue its operations there but wants to sell most of the property, a vast complex of warehouses and parking lots in a largely industrial area.
The consultant presented the findings at a Gwinnett Village board of directors meeting on Thursday. The report envisions 1.6 million square feet of new and refurbished office space, 850,000 square feet of retail space, 300,000 square feet of exposition or education space and 800 hotel rooms.
The report also projects 1,000 new apartments, 25 town homes, 800 hotel rooms and 4.8 acres of parks and greens, and a light rail station on the property (advocates hope to see a light rail line from Doraville to Gwinnett Arena).
“This is really designed to be a live-work-play type of environment,” consultant Scott Ball told the board.
Ball said the site is ideally situated beside I-85 and said the development could transform the entire area. But he stressed the plan is “very conceptual” and not a specific development proposal.
Warbington said it could take a decade or more and $1 billion to develop the property. But Gwinnett Village and OFS are ready to market the site and hope to find a developer in coming months.
“It’s still a long-term project,” Warbington told the board. “But it’s not pie in the sky.”
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