Developer 'open' to condos for proposed 135-unit building off Marietta Square

Apr. 5—MARIETTA — Before a crowd of dozens of locals, the developers behind a proposed 135-unit building downtown floated the idea that the 84-foot-tall building could include condominiums rather than apartments.

"Whether it's a rental or for sale, I think we are 100% open to that conversation," said Merritt Lancaster of Bridger Properties.

Lancaster and his business partner Jack Arnold held a community meeting at the Marietta History Center, fielding questions from an audience of roughly 70 people, many of whom live near downtown or operate businesses there.

Bridger has submitted plans to the city to build a seven-story residential building at a site just north of the Marietta Square Market food hall. The 1.25-acre site, owned by Bridger, is currently a surface parking lot.

The land is already zoned for a category which allows the building, and Bridger does not plan to seek variances from the city. Mayor Steve "Thunder" Tumlin and some City Council members have said they don't want it to be built, but it's not clear there's anything they can do to stop it.

Relations between the mayor and Bridger have grown acrimonious. Speaking last month about Bridger forcing tenants out of the stores it owns on Church Street, Tumlin said that "Sherman didn't damage Marietta Square as much." Bridger, meanwhile, said the mayor had ignored their requests to meet him, and said city leadership had engaged in a witch hunt.

Bridger held the community meeting Tuesday evening to solicit input from residents, and has also distributed an online survey.

Lancaster said he doesn't believe surface parking lots are a good use of real estate, and that the building would allow residents to live, work and play downtown without getting in their car.

The "modern industrial" building would be brick on all four sides with large windows, seeking to emulate the look of the nearby Brumby Lofts. Lancaster stressed that he was not in the business of building cheap apartments and flipping them.

"This is an incredibly high-quality building. This is not a three-story, stick-built, walk-up, cheap housing alternative," he said. "This is an incredibly expensive project ... It will be there a very long time."

The disclosure that the building might be used as condos came after attendees argued that renters don't maintain their homes at the same level as property owners.

Former Marietta Councilman Johnny Sinclair referenced the apartments which used to line Franklin Gateway, formerly known as Franklin Road. Those units became dilapidated over time, and voters passed a $68 million bond for the city to demolish some of them and redevelop the area.

"When I was a child, Franklin Road was luxury apartments," Sinclair said. "I would bet you that there is not a single apartment complex in the city limits of Marietta where the original builder, and the original manager still owns the property."

Lancaster said he was quite familiar with the area, having cleaned parking lots at Franklin Forest as a high schooler.

Bridger, he said, would try to hold on to the building as long as possible.

Chicago-based Northpond Partners is an active investor in the project, he said.

"So at some point in time, they (Northpond) are going to be seeking the capital ... Their window is seven to 10 years. So there will be a point in time where we have to look at the capital structure on the project. But nobody's got a gun to anybody's head right now," Lancaster said.

Councilman Grif Chalfant said residents "don't have a lot of choice in this matter," but received applause when he asked Bridger to make the units condos.

While Bridger is open to the units being condos, Lancaster said that ownership model can also create problems.

"They may or may not be able to maintain their condominiums. ... I think Florida's got a lot of examples right now where they did a terrible job," Lancaster said.

A condo tower in suburban Miami collapsed in 2021, killing 98 people, after maintenance on the building had been delayed.

Resident Miki Thompson said she was worried the live-work-play model might just be a trend.

"I've lived here all my life, I'm 58 years old. My mother lives here. My grandparents lived here. My great-grandparents, my great-great grandparents and my great-great-great grandparents ... We've been here for a very long time. ... Where is this going to be in 20 years?" she said.

Lancaster said it was not a fad, noting that he himself lives in a walkable, dense community — Atlanta's Inman Park — and that people do so all over the world.

"People living and working and playing in (a) singular environment, I mean, that's what Marietta has always been. ... There are so many examples of cities small and large throughout the world where that's how people live," Lancaster said. "That's how I like to live."

'Copy-paste'

Other criticism was directed at the architecture.

Resident Melanie Crissey said she walked to the meeting, and supports walkable communities.

"I don't even have a problem with parking or the residential. But to me, it looks copy-paste," she said.

Resident Melissa O'Brien complimented the firm's designs for its Church Street properties earlier in the meeting.

But concerning the apartments, she said, "to me, that building is too tall."

Lancaster thanked people for their feedback, saying he isn't an architect. But he also feels the brick fits in with the rest of downtown.

He also seemed open to the idea, floated by Councilman Johnny Walker at a Monday Historic Board of Review meeting, that Bridger could cover the pedestrian bridge tower in brick.

"I get it, it's ugly," Lancaster said of the bridge.

Some attendees supported Bridger's plans for downtown. Eric Bishop, who lives on Kennesaw Avenue, said the building could prove a shot in the arm for downtown, and prevent people from taking their dollars elsewhere.

"I actually find this to be non-offensive," he said. "I actually want residences downtown. I want high-quality development downtown. I want to not have leakage going over to Woodstock."

Resident John Feilmeier recalled that when the Avenue East Cobb shopping center was being built, residents "flipped out."

"There's progress that happens. ... I think it's great that you guys have come in here to talk face to face with us. They could have done anything that they wanted to. ... There's some issues with traffic that you guys maybe look at, but what you're doing right here is enhancing this area, and that's my opinion," Feilmeir said.

Traffic and parking

Some of the other complaints leveled at Bridger concerned the traffic impacts the project would have.

"Where we're coming from is that there is a heavy traffic issue and you're now trying to add 200-plus cars coming out of one building," said resident Zach Golden.

Lancaster said the firm has not conducted a traffic study, but he doesn't believe that 200 or so cars will make much of an impact on the roughly 42,000 cars which drive on Marietta Parkway daily.

The first story of the building would still be public parking, and include four more spaces than the existing lot. The second story would be resident-only parking.

While the building would increase the number of public parking spaces at the site, Bridger also plans to remove 22 parking spots at Marietta Station.

Those spots make up a small lot along the Mountain to River Trail, which Bridger plans to convert to a public plaza.

At the Monday historic board meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve the design for the plaza, along with Bridger's plans to spruce up its Church Street properties with new paint, doors, awnings and other features.

Bridger since January 2022 has owned more than four acres of downtown real estate, including the Marietta Station office complex, a strip of stores along Church Street, the land the food hall sits on and a pedestrian bridge spanning the railroad tracks.

Before construction begins, Bridger must receive approval from the historic board, then the City Council. But those bodies will only be voting on the building's appearance, not its use as apartments or condos.

Bridger in its plans to the city had listed an estimated completion date of December 2024. On Tuesday, Lancaster said the timeline would be longer — after approval by the city and completion of the permitting process, construction would likely take two years, he said.