MARIETTA, GA-Hedgewood Development LLC of Cumming has broken ground on the first phase of the Manget mixed-use redevelopment, a planned $55-million project near Downtown's Marietta Square. The project will include a total 265 residential condos, attached single-family townhomes and single-family detached homes.

The site is bounded by Lakewood Drive, Manget, Frasier, Haley and Waterman streets, and South Avenue. The projected price range of the homes is $200,000 to $320,000. Hedgewood is building the eight-acre project after buying a 27-property assemblage from the city for $1.2 million or $150,000 per acre ($3.44 per sf), as GlobeSt.com reported June 22.

"The Manget Project will create new owner-occupied housing in the area while reducing the number of available rentals," Mayor Bill Dunaway says. The project, "in the heart of the city, will transform an aging neighborhood with smart growth and neo-traditional owner-occupied housing." The mayor says the redevelopment will increase home ownership to 60% in the surrounding area.

Marietta has four other redevelopment shelter programs near the ground-breaking stage. Clay Homes, considered the largest redevelopment venture in the city's history, is an $80-million, 11.3-acre mixed-use redevelopment proposed by Atlanta-based Winter Properties. The city council was scheduled to vote this week on the project's proposed site plan.

Winter Properties beat out six rivals for the job. Other developers bidding for the project were Trammell Crow Co., Pacific Group, Jolly Development, Urban Realty Partners, Hedgewood Development and Goldman Co., as GlobeSt.com previously reported.