Town Center plans excite CID board, but residents are wary
Aug. 25—TOWN CENTER — Plans for Town Center mall, as well as a new road underneath Interstate 75, have the Town Center Community Improvement District excited and area residents wary of further development.
The shopping mall was foreclosed upon by Deutsche Bank last year after it failed to auction the property, valued at $130.4 million at the time, on the steps of the county courthouse. Despite foreclosure, the mall has remained open, and the Town Center CID, one of three self-taxing areas in Cobb established by commercial property owners to improve local infrastructure and public safety, has for years been mulling over the future of Town Center at Cobb.
"We have had plans for the mall in our master planning efforts since 2008, so we've always known that there would be an opportunity to look at what possibilities might look like for redevelopment of the center," said Tracy Styf, the CID's executive director.
Styf said the CID agreed to a contract of up to $84,500 with Kimley-Horn, an Atlanta-based planning and design consulting firm, and one worth up to $150,000 with Chicago-based architecture firm Perkins & Will to develop plans for the mall's future, a process that started in January.
"These plans bring together the leading placemaking, design and engineering consultants to look at what's next for our community," Styf said at the CID's board meeting this week.
Cassie Branum of Perkins & Will said the firm envisions Town Center at Cobb as a gateway to other parts of Georgia and east Tennessee, a waterfront destination on and trailhead for Noonday Creek, a college town for Kennesaw State University students and a center for the surrounding community.
Greg Teague, CEO of Croy Engineering, told the CID board the planned connection underneath I-75 "provides another front door into the mall that helps as we move forward into the revisioning" of Town Center.
The concept for the connecting road that would run beneath I-75 includes pedestrian-friendly features such as green space, a water structure and sidewalks. It would be located south of Big Shanty Road and north of Barrett Parkway and would connect properties on both sides of the interstate.
"We hope that it's the beginning of conversations and curiosity in order to excite people about the opportunities that are here in Town Center," Styf said. "And with that, we hope that the development community sees economic development opportunity for reimagining what not only the mall area, but the surrounding community can be."
Tullan Avard, executive director of the Bells Ferry Civic Association, said she has seen plans for revitalization in other parts of Town Center. As a result, she wonders if the vision for such a large-scale redevelopment of the mall will have enough funding behind it.
"We hope that a project of this type will come into fruition, but again it depends on the financial backing, who's interested, what kind of businesses they can attract," Avard said. "Because right now, all they're doing in this area is building apartments."
Cecilia Hart, the civic association's treasurer, mentioned she and the group would also like to see a more concerted effort to protect Noonday Creek from trash dumping.
Avard lamented that she and other residents of the area are not able to ask questions at CID board meetings, saying they deserve to give input on these projects.
"We represent the community and our input wasn't requested, which is a shame," Avard said. "We're just hearing from businesses, not from residents."
Avard worries the plans the CID has will not address the desires of residents. She said other developments in the area have addressed housing needs but fail to offer other options for the community, something she hopes a revitalized Town Center may be able to address, but only with input from groups like hers.
"This is supposed to be a live, work, play area and all we're seeing is live right now."
