Smyrna: $250 million Belmont Hills redevelopment starts in Spring!

netdragon · #1 Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 6:23 AM**

Smyrna approves Belmont Hills development | ajc.com
Belmont Hills - Smyrna Georgia Redevelopment, Tax Allocation District | Smyrna Vinings Homes, Neighborhoods, Restaurants, Shopping, Events - SmyrnaVinings.com

Belmont Hills is one of the oldest shopping centers in Cobb County. The redevelopment plan was passed 6-0 and demolition starts this Spring.

It will have a lot of shopping, townhomes, a fountain and roundabouts. Price tag is $250 milion.

Now:

Future:

Andrea · #2 Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 1:42 PM**

That's exciting! Smyrna is definitely a happening area of Atlanta.

Rail Claimore · #3 Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 2:35 PM**

This is what suburban Atlanta will mature into, I think. You can see it all over Cobb County.

Andrea · #4 Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 4:01 PM**

.

AtlMidtowner · #5 Posted **Jan 25, 2009, 1:01 AM**

The funnest thing was that in the AJC just a few weeks ago, there was an article about shopping centers having a problem retaining tenants and getting new ones, with using Belmont Hills as the example. I actually sent the author of the article a reminder that just two years ago, the AJC published an article stating that the owners of Belmont Hills want the shopping center redeveloped and where applying for all the necessary permits to build a new multi-use development. They wanted the tenants to leave!!!

That photo of Belmont Hills must really be old, as there actually are cars in parking lot!!!! I always have to drive by there when I go to get my fire marshall approvals for my building permits in Cobb.

netdragon · #6 Posted **Jan 25, 2009, 5:58 AM**

AtMidtowner: You should probably write a letter to the AJC editor asking for them to publish a correction that clarifies it a bit. You are right -- they had at least 50%-75% occupation before the notice, and the reason they left was because they were asked to.
Is this it? http://www.ajc.com/business/content/...id=inform_artr

Oh, and the Mexican restaurant mentioned as being still there in the article is gone too (just went to eat there today) and it was known it would move at the time the author wrote the article. It moved North about 1 mile but they haven't reopened yet because it looks like they are still laying tile at the new location.

Furthermore, the author didn't discuss the legal issues with TAD and how those are being addressed.

The problem with older shopping centers, including the one at the corner of South Cobb and Concord Rd includes:
* Increasing real estate values in Smyrna/Vinings, causing increased taxes. You may notice that the new shopping center being built in Smyrna for Publix has underground parking to increase utilization of the property.
* Older shopping centers are not prominent from the street. You may notice that a lot of new shopping centers have more prominent front elevations for anchor stores to stand out more and a lot of boutique shopping centers are built to border the sidewalk with parking in the back (examples: the new shopping center on Spring Rd near the elementary school, and the new shopping center on Atlanta Rd near Creatwood Trail). A lot of the older shopping centers also have out-parcels that block drivers-by from seeing the storefronts, so they just fade into the sea of buildings along the road. To make matters even worse: traffic congestion has increased, making it even harder to see them without ending up smashing someone else's car's rear-end.
* The stores are out of date construction which makes them hard for tenants to follow modern practices for internal layout.

ls1z28chris · #7 Posted **May 9, 2009, 3:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rail Claimore

This is what suburban Atlanta will mature into, I think. You can see it all over Cobb County.

I think that certainly appears to be the trend, but I haven't seen it extend further than Smyrna.

Rail Claimore · #8 Posted **May 9, 2009, 7:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls1z28chris

I think that certainly appears to be the trend, but I haven't seen it extend further than Smyrna.

Still though, there's a notable saturation of this type of development in southeast Cobb, particularly near I-285.

netdragon · #9 Posted **May 10, 2009, 6:34 AM**

April update:

http://www.smyrnavinings.com/2009/04...-hills-update/

Fiorenza · #10 Posted **May 10, 2009, 2:56 PM**

That seems more in keeping with the neighborhood.

ls1z28chris · #11 Posted **May 14, 2009, 6:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rail Claimore

Still though, there's a notable saturation of this type of development in southeast Cobb, particularly near I-285.

Yeah. That area is called Smyrna.

I agree with you that it is the trend and much preferable to other types of sprawl. If only we could get some rail up to this dense area to alleviate some of the congestion, I'd consider living there.

Thanks for that update, netdragon.

netdragon · #12 Posted **Sep 19, 2009, 9:17 PM**

Update: After tearing down most of the back, they have now torn down the front so most of it is demolished now. Just a big pile of rubble now. The only part that is left is the south end anchor spot facade that was painted black prior to demolition (not sure why)

It would be nice if they left the black facade for historical reasons.

netdragon · #13 Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 9:16 AM**

Progress:

It has just been demolished. Here are some images. Thumbnails + one large image.

This is how it used to look:

Now:

trainiac · #14 Posted **Oct 19, 2009, 5:02 AM**

Thanks for posting the pictures. I had no idea where this actually was but was doing a CIRCA tour of Marietta square last weekend and noticed it on the way back on Atlanta Rd. Quite the pile of rubble

netdragon · #15 Posted **Mar 16, 2010, 6:35 AM**

The rubble is now gone and the whole future development, and old parking lot, is lined with a Lenox-ish green barrier fence and trees. It looks better already and nothing has even gone up yet.

netdragon · #16 Posted **Apr 1, 2010, 4:29 PM**

Update:

Here's a quick update with some pictures. With the child and other half complaining about wanting to get home, the best I could do is pop into Fleming Street and snap a couple quick photos with my phone's camera.

One is from the intersection. The other is an attempt I made at photographing Pizza Hut getting torn down from the other side of Fleming Street right near where the townhomes are being built.

netdragon · #17 Posted **Sep 3, 2012, 4:22 AM**

Update: This project is alive again. The only real change is moving the apartments from pod C to pod F so they don't need to worry about the parking garage in pod C right away, along with adding carriage houses and some rentable covered garages. Pod F has more space and didn't have any previous utilization plans. http://smyrna.patch.com/articles/hal...ont-hills-site

The new pod F apartments (view from inside the development from pod A) and planned to be top of the market:

The bottom-floor apartments will have doors opening to the shopping area in pod A (the part at the corner). The senior housing and multi-deck parking in pod B remains unchanged. Pod C becomes unplanned space for now.

bfarley30 · #18 Posted **Sep 5, 2012, 3:31 PM**

Looks like a great development but the sad thing is that there will never be plans put in for possible MARTA rail expansion. While it will be walkable you can't walk anywhere. That would be a great location for a MARTA station that could take you to Cumberland Galleria and then into the city or north through the heart of Marietta and to Town Center Mall. Too bad Cobb won't support transit. Well REAL transit, not a slow suburban bus system that does a poorer job of what MARTA would do.

netdragon · #19 Posted **Oct 26, 2012, 7:04 AM**

It's final (approved):
http://smyrna.patch.com/articles/bel...quest-approved

The school is almost done being built, and the main connector to Ward Street.

You can see the frame of the new school as it was going up here, however this is from months back and things are much farther along: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=smyrn...234.59,,0,7.78

bfarley: It would be CCT, not MARTA, and for right there, it'd have to be commuter rail since that's the W&A line. The alternatives analysis is going through but no other rail is heading there any time soon due to the killing of the T-Splost. Market Village is just a couple blocks away, and I imagine Jonquil Village will be following soon. So there will be plenty to walk to.

bfarley30 · #20 Posted **Oct 26, 2012, 3:50 PM**

[/QUOTE] bfarley: It would be CCT, not MARTA, and for right there, it'd have to be commuter rail since that's the W&A line. The alternatives analysis is going through but no other rail is heading there any time soon due to the killing of the T-Splost. Market Village is just a couple blocks away, and I imagine Jonquil Village will be following soon. So there will be plenty to walk to.[/QUOTE]

I know that CCT is the service in Cobb. That wasn't my point. My point was that there should be MARTA rail AND bus service already in the county. Not the CCT service that comes no where close to being as effective as MARTA could be. Also commuter rail could be used for places like Acworth that are very far out but Smyrna is too close to the city. The problem is that everyone wants to say they are "in the burbs" instead of accepting that they are part of the main core of the metro Atlanta area and that a real metro transit system and real metro style development is needed. While I love the project as a whole and think more are needed, there probably will only be patches of them across Cobb. As far as walking to Market or Jonquil nobody is really going to walk to either of them, unless they are out for a jog or something. I especially wouldn't walk to Jonquil from there. That is at least a mile or more. Until these denser developments are side by side like how some are in ATL there will never be that "walkability" that people are talking about. And until we get MARTA in all of the "Big 5 Counties" in the metro area it will continue to be car dependent and full of traffic in areas like Cobb.