F'ville looks to move ahead with redevelopment study

Mon, 11/16/2009 - 7:46am
By: Ben Nelms

A plan to explore the redevelopment of three commercial areas in Fayetteville will be one of the few items on the Nov. 19 agenda.

Given the go-head by the City Council in August to pursue a Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) supplemental grant, a proposal by the city’s planning staff would hire Urban Collage to consult in the project, with a completion date of May 2010 expected.

Specifically, the LCI study would focus on the Ga. Highway 85 and Ga. Highway 54 corridors within the city’s LCI boundaries, said city staff Eldridge Gunn in a Nov 5 memo.

In particular, the focus is on devising grayfield redevelopment and infill development options for three primary properties that will serve as catalysts for redevelopment within the LCI area, he said. The key older centers identified are the 692 shopping center, the Fayette Place commercial center and the underutilized Market Place commercial site, part of the Villages at Lafayette development.

Urban Collage was on five firms interviewed for the consultant service. Gunn said Urban Collage’s price is $60,000, with Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) supplying half the funding. The city will put up $24,000 with the three primary property owners contributing a total of $6,000.

Gunn said the inventory and assessment of existing conditions will take under three months, the concept phase alternatives will take less than two months and the action plan will require one month.

If the council approves, staff will work out the final contract details within the parameters of the request that was sent to ARC and begin working on a time frame to complete the study project.

Gunn said staff anticipates beginning work with the consultants by the first of December. All work for the study should be completed by May 31, he said.

Gunn said previously that revitalization of the centers would serve as a catalyst for reviving the entire LCI area.

“Development of these sites can be less expensive for the developer and more cost effective for providing city services because the infrastructure is already in place,” he said. “It will allow the value of the property to rise significantly, provide jobs and increase taxable income for the city.”

login to post comments