The property, located on Interstate 85 at Sugarloaf Parkway and Satellite Boulevard, was acquired for $12.6 million from the Sugarloaf Group, LP. The site will be walking distance to Gwinnett Center, the Gwinnett Arena and Performing Arts Center and Discovery Mills.

"This is one of the most important intersections in Gwinnett County," Southeast Investment Properties president Steven Smith tells GlobeSt.com. "It is right across the street from the Gwinnett Civic Center, which is used for convention and entertainment purposes."

The project will contain a four-star hotel with 10 to 14 stories, a 45,000-sf specialty retail center, five freestanding restaurants and a class A four- to eight-story office building zoned for up to 225,000 sf. Smith says the hotel has been sold to Columbus-based Cascade Group which will operate it.

"The demographics in the area are solid with 110,000 people with high levels of discretionary income within a three-mile radius of the site," Smith says.

The project also contains a proposed residential component consisting of one 10-story condominium building and one 20-story tower. The zoning approval for the residential component has not yet been secured.

Site work is expected to complete by June 1 with the shops and restaurants due to open in January 2008. The hotel and office space is expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2008.

Locally based Wakefield Beasley & Associates is the architect for the project and Brock Design Group is the civil engineers. SouthCrest Bank and Arlington Capital are providing financing for the project. The Shopping Center Group is handling the marketing of the retail space and Bullock Mannelly Partners is handling the marketing for the hotel and potential condominium sites.