Topgolf-like facility set for Marietta after city OKs $9.5M land sale

This is a rendering for the Drive Shack driving range and entertainment center set to be built near Franklin Gateway.

Credit: City of Marietta

Credit: City of Marietta

This is a rendering for the Drive Shack driving range and entertainment center set to be built near Franklin Gateway.

Eventually, you might be able to consume food and adult beverages between trying to hit a tiny ball as best you can indoors in Cobb County.

Marietta spokeswoman Lindsey Wiles said the city approved the $9.5 million sale to Drive Shack of 17.18 acres along the Franklin Gateway Corridor, which is billed as a neighborhood amid a large transformation.

Atlanta United opened a high-tech training facility in April and Ikea announced in December that it chose the area as the site of its second metro Atlanta location.

Golfweek described Drive Shack as a "well-financed competitor to Topgolf." Cobb currently doesn't have a Topgolf.

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Drive Shack plans to build three levels of hitting bays for golfers/golfing wannabes for between $20 million and $25 million, the city said.

The property where it’ll be located was purchased by the city through the 2013 redevelopment bond; at that time the land was 24½ acres.

Marietta said in a news release that the golf entertainment facility will bring more than 450 jobs to the Franklin Gateway area and “also provide significant annual sales and property tax revenue for local governments and the school system.”

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The city didn’t give specifics on the estimated tax revenue expected.

This will be the first one in Georgia.

In fact, Drive Shack plans to open soon its first facility in Orlando and has plans for a handful of other locations, according to a presentation from the third quarter of 2017 posted to its website.

The presentation said Drive Shack, publicly traded as “DS” on the New York Stock Exchange, had about $180 million in cash at the end of that third quarter.

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