Sandy Springs elected and appointed officials took actions in three meetings on July 29 to enable the construction of a mixed-use development on property off Sandy Springs Circle being sold by the Sandy Springs United Methodist Church.
The city council approved a request to abandon a permanent slope easement that the city bought from the church in February 2018 for the City Springs Roadway Project.
Since Trammel Crow plans to build the Hillcrest mixed-use development on an 8.1-acre property that includes a nearly half-acre easement. That removes the need for the slope easement and its maintenance, Economic Development Director Chris Burnett said.
Related story:
• Mixed-use development planned in Sandy Springs
Trammell Crow plans multi-family housing, restaurant and retail space, and a parking garage for residents and patrons. Third & Urban is a partner in the project with Trammell Crow.
The development will end a parking use agreement that Sandy Springs has maintained with the church for 105 parking spaces on the property. The city negotiated with Trammell Crow to get 111 parking spaces within the new parking garage that the company will build for its Hillcrest development, according to Burnett’s report to the members of the authorities and council members.
The morning of July 29 began with the Sandy Springs Development Authority approving a property tax abatement program with Trammell Crow to enable the construction of the Hillcrest parking garage.
Later in the day, the Sandy Springs Public Facilities Authority approved agreements for the construction and use of the parking spaces. It also approved a budget amendment to use $4.4 million in funds designated for the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust Museum for the parking spaces project.
“It’s been a few years ago when we were in fairly extensive talks with the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust about funding the potential building for them. With the belief that that initiative has now gone away, we still have the $4.4 million set aside for that project,” Burnett told the Public Facilities Authority.
With these approvals, Sandy Springs was to provide $384,484 in funds on July 30, with $165,625 going to the development authority as fees for the transaction. The remaining funds will go to attorneys’ fees.
Within 30 days, the city will deposit $3.59 million into a city-controlled escrow account, according to Burnett’s report to the authority. Most of this will be for construction costs for the city’s 111 parking spaces, with a developer fee and a contingency reserve set aside.
The city will hold $900,000 in funding for future road improvement and infrastructure projects around the City Springs Area, particularly on Sandy Springs Circle and Mount Vernon Highway.
“Examples of some streetscapes could be we do additional landscaping, or we do the landscape strip perhaps coming up Sandy Spring Circle. So those things, landscape strips, tend to slow traffic speed,” Burnett said. We may consider taking out the southbound lane of Sandy Spring Circle and turning that into parallel parking.”
Sandy Spring’s total investment in the project was capped at $4.88 million.
The city will get funds back through the tax abatement program. For the first year that full property taxes are due for Hillcrest after the city issues its certificate of occupancy, Trammell Crow’s tax bill will be reduced by 50 percent. Burnett said that each succeeding year, the tax reduction will decline by 5 percent, ending the tax abatement after 10 years.
Trammell Crow will give the city its annual tax savings until the city recovers its front-end investment of $4.88 million.
Sandy Springs will be financially responsible for a portion of the parking garage’s maintenance based on the number of its spaces. The city will receive the revenue for the 111 parking spaces. It can designate specific parking rates for events such as its Stars and Stripes celebrations.