next hot spot for dense urban development (high rises, apartments, parks) (Atlanta: condos, crime)

[FromGA]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

they are about to build a skyscraper on old milton parkway near 400 in alpharetta.

If you are talking about the old Prospect Park, now called Avalon Prospect Park is History: Call it Avalon - Alpharetta-Milton, GA Patch,
I think it is mixed use, not a sky scraper.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by FromGA

If you are talking about the old Prospect Park, now called Avalon Prospect Park is History: Call it Avalon - Alpharetta-Milton, GA Patch,
I think it is mixed use, not a sky scraper.

there will be a 14 story building in the existing plan. i live here and keep up with the city council pretty closely, they send me stuff that isn't exactly public knowledge. whether 14 stories is a skyscaper or not is semantics.

the current plan has encountered some backlash, not because of the 14 story building, but believe it or not, because it's not urban *enough*! most of the comments i've read fault it for not having enough park space and too much spread out development.

there is a meeting february 13 at the city hall about the project.

[FromGA]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

there will be a 14 story building in the existing plan. i live here and keep up with the city council pretty closely, they send me stuff that isn't exactly public knowledge. whether 14 stories is a skyscaper or not is semantics.

the current plan has encountered some backlash, not because of the 14 story building, but believe it or not, because it's not urban *enough*! most of the comments i've read fault it for not having enough park space and too much spread out development.

there is a meeting february 13 at the city hall about the project.

Highrise. It might be the tallest in Alpharetta yet?

It is described in:
$200M Avalon project comes before Alpharetta Planning Commission

Do you know what is the schedule for the Alpharetta downtown project? What is the road construction on Main St near the gas station and the barbecue place?

[bryantm3]

the road construction is, i believe they are putting in a median, improving the sidewalk and adding trees on both sides.

the biggest plan in alpharetta at the moment is the downtown revitalization plan. they're going to divert the northern section of haynes (the 1/2 mile that is north of old milton parkway) to the east, where a side street currently is. it's going to be 2-lane in that section, with a median and with traffic circles. they're going to convert the empty lot covered in old trees into a park, and turn the new larger block into a town square.

City of Alpharetta Website || Downtown Development Project

we've finally gotten the suburban/good old boy crowd out of the city council for the most part, and they're finally willing to do projects that reflect historical preservation.

they're also talking about diverting highway 9 to westside parkway which runs alongside 400 and has the verizon wireless amphitheatre.

it's all very exciting. there were tons of road expansions and garbage done in the 90s and 2000s that really turned alpharetta into a suburban community blighted by overdevelopment... we're now going the other direction and trying to incorporate a more urban village feel.

[FromGA]

bryant, I read your other thread on "Will Roswell be the next ..." and I visited Canton Street (for the first time) a few weeks back. The restaurant scene was nice, and the food where we ate was good.

The problem was that it took barely a half mile north on Canton Street to get to the subdivision type feel. So while there may be a so called urbanization of the subrurb's downtowns, it seems to be very limited. Another thing is looking on a map, Roswell seems almost as north of the perimeter as Johns Creek where I live is.

I would think this will hold true for Alpharetta as well. While they may revitalize downtown, and Avalon having access to such a huge area might develop something nice, the sprawl factor is just "a few blocks" away. Also Alpharetta -driving on North Point / Westside etc. seems to have a lot of office vacancy - am I correct?

The problem I see is this:
If you add up the population of Alpharetta 60K + Roswell 90K + Johns Creek 75K + Milton 30K, you get to around 250,000. That would imply about 100,000 wage earners over a huge area of land. While the basics of suburban living -- restaurants + shopping (North Point, Forum) + services will do well, I dont see a huge commerical upside. Most of this region seems built, with pockets of undeveloped land. But I dont see this area developing in a way different than it is today.

Office space wise, I would think Perimeter, Buckhead, and Midtown (not to speak of the competition from other metros) will give Alpharetta and others a tough fight. I wonder about the strategy related to the 14 stories that Avalon is adding as office space.

Regarding MARTA -- to serve this 250K population (100K wage earners), we would need an incredible amount of infrastructure to be built. With people's interest in keeping taxes low, I dont see how this area will become anything different than what it is today.

Not sure how long you have lived in Alpharetta, but it seems the more one is able to enjoy Alpharetta etc. for what it currently is, the happier one will be. If one is looking for high density, energy, VaHi vibe up in Alpharetta area, I think one may end up dissatisfied.

[StAubin]

South downtown is set up to be the next big thing. There are plenty of surface lots just waiting to be developed and there are already many awesome historic buildings. The Biggist issue is the city jail. A city jail in my mind has no business being in the central business district, i would move it out by the Federal prision.

[FromGA]

(In continuation of my previous post)

Also, to take the case of Suwanee which has about the best "downtown" in the northern suburbs.

While their center is nice, and the first line of stores there seem to be doing well -- yougurt place, smoothie place, pizza and comfort food -- one just has to take a turn into the immediate side road to see the vacancies. Forget about some of the stores a minute's walk away to see severe vacancies. I dont know how the condos atop these shops are doing.

My point is, while it is nice to see a good downtown in the burbs, and I will end up visiting these, I dont think these suburbs are going to become anything different than what they currently are.

[testa50]

Originally Posted by StAubin

South downtown is set up to be the next big thing. There are plenty of surface lots just waiting to be developed and there are already many awesome historic buildings. The Biggist issue is the city jail. A city jail in my mind has no business being in the central business district, i would move it out by the Federal prision.

Agreed. I have heard it had to do with transportation costs to the courthouse. It's pretty sad how horrible all of the government buildings in that area are in terms of design and street presence, and how much of south downtown they occupy. Sigh.

Here's an off-the-wall idea: Downtown Gainesville. It has the "bones" of another downtown Decatur. However, attracting a young demographic to live there would be difficult, as most would rather choose Atlanta or Athens.

Downtown Athens has been tearing it up, lately, also.

[FlyingFox]

Development in Cumberland seems to be picking back up. The area is well on its way to becoming another Dunwoody. Geographically, it makes sense (Dunwoody at the junction of 400 and I-285, Cumberland at the junction of I-75 and I-285) and the area benefits from low taxes (unincorporated Cobb county).

[gumboula]

Originally Posted by erick295

One of the hots spots will be Perimeter Center, no doubt. There are some big projects planned for when the economy picks back up again, and some lighter activity going on right now. With all the new residential development the population has grown immensely in the last few years and lately there are more local businesses popping up instead of chains. A sizable city park is supposed to be going in near the Lofts this year. I remember when Perimeter was just a 9-5 office park but it's turning into quite a nice neighborhood.

Ohhhhh! Now I get why there was talk awhile back about a path along the creek leading north of Murphey Candler Park. It would then connect to this new park in Dunwoody.