It appears that the Mall of Georgia-area megaproject backed by Atlanta Falcons star Julio Jones may not be so "mega" in the end.
Documents recently filed with Gwinnett County's planning commission suggest the project known as Ariston will be significantly scaled back from the original vision presented in 2016. The documents ask that some conditions included in the original rezoning application for the project — which would be built on 16 acres near Woodward Crossing and Mall of Georgia boulevards — be tweaked.
Among the proposed tweaks is a request to remove language that specifically calls for “a mixed retail, office, hotel and residential” development and replace it with the phrase “mixed-use.” The documents also suggest that the maximum number of apartments allowed in the development be 285, not the original 541.
In addition, the new filing calls for a four-story hotel to be built on the property — not the originally proposed 25-story concept that would’ve become the tallest building in Gwinnett County.
Original plans called for 162,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store, as well as 76,000 square feet of office and a 50,000-square-foot “family entertainment center.” New filings call for about 100,00 square feet of “commercial uses,” including the downsized hotel.
No parking decks are in the new plans, which are currently scheduled to be considered at the Gwinnett planning commission’s July 9 meeting.
“The original site plan provided over 2,000 parking spaces in decks spread across the development,” documents said, “and with the elimination of the structured parking, the development must accordingly be resized to provide a scale of uses that can be supported with traditional surface parking lots.”
“Despite transitioning from a ‘structure’ to ‘surface-parked’ development,” the documents continued, “the current site plan maintains the original sense of place and energetic, urban environment of the original mixed-use proposal by providing on-site amenities and pushing the buildings up on the rights-of-way of Woodward Crossing Boulevard and Mall of Georgia Boulevard.”
Jones, a superstar wide receiver who missed the Falcons' recent offseason practices amid a contract squabble, has been described as a principal investor in the project. Jon Guven of Guven Fine Jewelry is also an investor.
Ivy Creek Partners LLC is the developer.
Little, if anything, has been done on the site since the project was announced.
Attempts to contact officials tied to the project were not immediately successful Wednesday morning.
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