The developer behind The Battery Atlanta and other large metro-area projects now wants to build a sizable mixed-use project near the Mall of Georgia.
The proposed project from Fuqua Development — pitched for 64 acres on the southeastern side of I-85 and Ga. 20 — is also less than a mile from Coolray Field, the minor league baseball stadium that county officials once dreamed would be surrounded by bustling apartments, shops and eateries.
"The Exchange @ Gwinnett," as it's listed in a rezoning application recently submitted to Gwinnett County's planning department, would include about 500 apartments. It also would involve roughly 400,000 square feet of non-residential development, including a hotel, a fitness center and "a golf entertainment complex and driving range with a full-service restaurant and bar."
“The proposed development would complement existing commercial, residential and employment centers,” Shane Lanham, the attorney representing Fuqua, wrote in the application.
The property in question currently sits in three different zoning classifications. Documents ask that the entire acreage be placed under the regional mixed use classification.
A special-use permit was also requested for the proposed golf entertainment complex.
No date has been set yet for the county planning commission to consider the proposal. Gwinnett’s Board of Commissioners would have final say on the rezoning.
Fuqua is the team behind The Battery Atlanta, the sprawling development that surrounds the Atlanta Braves’ Cobb County home. It is also working on the city of Peachtree Corners’ new town center, and has several high-profile intown Atlanta developments under its belt.
Fuqua's proposal comes as the folks behind another big Mall of Georgia-area development — "Ariston," backed by Atlanta Falcons superstar Julio Jones — look to scale back the grandeur of their original plans.
And while the Fuqua project isn't directly adjacent to Coolray Field like the booming mixed-use facilities once contained in county officials' (largely unfulfilled) dreams, its proximity and sheer size could be enough to serve as a long-delayed consolation prize.
In other Gwinnett news:
About the Author
