Alpharetta leaders agreed this week to a controversial funding mechanism that's intended to create development opportunities around North Point Mall.
The creation of a Tax Allocation District, or TAD, was passed unanimously by city council Monday. Fulton County and the county school system must still agree to put their own taxes toward economic improvements in the mall area, but the first approval, to form the district, has happened.
Retail sales, including at the mall, have declined, said Gary Mongeon, a consultant with Bleakly Advisory Group. Occupancy is also down. While a struggling mall presents challenges all too familiar to many cities in metro Atlanta, it also presents an opportunity.
"I'm glad we're finally being honest about the current situation at North Point," Councilman Jason Binder said. "This is the best tool."
Alpharetta already has approved plans for a large mixed-use development on the mall’s property, and funneling tax dollars to the development plan, as a TAD allows, could jump start the project and give it a greater chance to succeed, leaders said.
The move could bring in more than $300 million over the life of the TAD that could go to redevelopment. The city plans to add hundreds of apartments and 2.5 million square feet of new or rehabbed retail/office space as well as turn a 266-acre sea of asphalt into a park.
Mongeon estimated the plan could double the area’s tax revenue over a decade. The TAD, which takes up close to 900 acres, represents 5% of the total tax digest for Alpharetta. Mongeon described it as “extremely important” not just for Alpharetta, but for the entire region.
“It’s not just a mall,” Councilman Ben Burnett said. “This is our best foot forward to say, hey, we want to try something.”
Some disagreed that the situation at North Point was dire enough to redirect tax dollars that would otherwise go to the city, county or school system to redevelopment. Jonathan Henke, a resident, said he didn’t think creating a TAD would address the problems the mall has.
“It doesn’t really meet the criteria when you compare it to everywhere else in Atlanta,” he said. “Only when you compare it to Avalon. It seems like a trick.”
Burnett acknowledged that Alpharetta’s better off than many areas that are also seeking redevelopment.
“There are places that would kill to have the blight of North Point Mall,” he said.
Council also voted 4-2, with Burnett recusing himself, to approve changes to the mixed-use 360 Tech Village development that allowed 255 apartments instead of a hotel. The dissenters, Mayor Jim Gilvin and Councilwoman Karen Richard, said Alpharetta's rental rate is higher than a study said it should be, so they couldn't approve more apartments.
Councilman John Hipes lauded the change for creating places for workers to live near their jobs.
“I’m not Pollyanna enough to believe this solves all our problems, but it starts the discussion,” he said.
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