With 'The Quad,' Smyrna approves gathering spot, open-container district
Sep. 26—SMYRNA — Set to an acoustic cover of U2's "With or without you," a promotional video takes viewers through a 3D rendering of "The Quad," a new open-container district Smyrna officials hope will breathe new life into an otherwise quiet part of their city.
"This is another example of the right way to do things," Mayor Derek Norton said at last week's City Council meeting. The developer, the Woodberry Group, had initially proposed a mixed-use area featuring apartments and retail, but city officials, Norton continued, "politely said, 'Go back to the drawing board,' and what (they've) come back with is something that, in my view, this is exactly what we need in the city of Smyrna."
A collection of several parcels at the intersection of Spring Street and Jonquil Drive — "better known as, 'across from Rev Coffee,'" Norton quipped — the development will repurpose existing buildings.
In the fly through video, digitally-rendered Smyrnans gather on a lawn ringed by restaurants and bars, some playing cornhole, others watching a guitarist perform on a nearby stage.
"Creating this as a restaurant district will allow the uses to intermingle and the alcohol to be brought to that center area from all the properties involved in it," Rusty Martin, the city's community development director, said.
David Woodberry, president of the Woodberry Group, told the council he expects work on the project to begin early next year.
"I wanted a place for the community to go," Woodberry told the council. "It feels like the Smyrna area is lacking in a ... gathering spot where the whole family can come, and kids can have pizza and the parents can have tacos and margaritas and all hang out."
The resolution creating the open-container district passed 5-0, with council members Charles Welch and Glenn Pickens absent.
