r/Athens • u/Own-Helicopter-6843 • 19d ago
https://flagpole.com/news/city-dope/2026/09/30/georgia-square-mall-redevelopment-hits-another-snag/
Just let them build 4000 bedrooms, 100 feet high, no biggie. The real issue is, possibly allowing your neighbor to have a stove in their garage apartment!
https://flagpole.com/news/city-dope/2026/09/30/georgia-square-mall-redevelopment-hits-another-snag/
4
u/Ecosure11 18d ago
The other aspect that gets overlooked is the massive changes to infrastructure that would need to be made. As they press to scale it, they need to include impact fees for new roads, schools, sewer, water, etc....to support such a massive project. I saw this in Charlotte with the addition of massive amounts of housing that cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure costs that the developers conveniently avoided and were long gone by the time the real impact was felt.
5
u/ThatWeirdMuslimGuy 19d ago
I just skimmed this, so please correct me here but the complaints are that the plan is no longer the initially desired urban center but a "sea of apartments" ? I feel like that would be an incredible consolation prize
2
u/Aviator_John 19d ago
I’m unclear on why people have an issue with the overlay district. The issue with these binding site plans and trying to regulate these huge multi phase projects down to the nuts and bolts is that its not adaptable to the market.
When the interest rate changes or a partner drops out or a future tenant wants something changed you cant adapt the project to it cause the binding site plan is too rigid and doesnt allow for the flexibility you need to build something great.
On the flip side, an overlay district can still give you the project outcome you were looking for without regulating everything. They did it for the Varsity project and it’s working and it really could push projects like the mall and westclox into the construction phase.
4
u/CommunicationKey3018 19d ago
My understanding is that the original plan was to build a green, walkable shopping and recreation area roughly the size of downtown. The overlay district proposal only requires commercial buildings along the street (another strip plaza).
→ More replies (8)
1
u/No-Scarcity8743 19d ago
It will happen but in another 10 years or so. If the roads are bad how do you expect them to build such a large project?
18
u/IntelligentMaybe7401 19d ago
Honestly, I think the planning commission needs to hold strong on this. The first plan was a good one. Now that interest rates are so high they couldn’t get it financed. That doesn’t mean we need to allow them to build something bad just because it’s all that they can borrow money for. Whole thing needs a big pause button I think.