Williams Set to Close on Suwanee Land

This pro-business city of 10,000 permanent residents, 30 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta, is creating its first Downtown by selling prime acreage to developers such as John A. Williams, former chairman of Post Properties Inc. and a principal in Madison Retail LLC; Main Street Corners; and other entrepreneurs who are discovering the potential of this small city for the first time.

But the city isn't giving away the store. Williams' company plans to close its 2.6-acre purchase in November for nearly $1.2 million or about $453,836 per acre, brokers familiar with the Suwanee market tell GlobeSt.com.

Main Street Corners paid the city about $1.4 million or $340,000 per acre. At $10.42 per sf for Williams and $7.80 per sf for Main Street Corners, "those are big-city price tags," a Midtown Atlanta industrial broker tells GlobeSt.com.

Using low-interest bonds, the city acquired 13 acres adjacent to the Town Center Park in November 2002. That land is now being sold off to private developers for mixed-use projects that complement the 13-acre Town Center master plan, city staffers tell GlobeSt.com.

City planners decided two years ago the central business district should be moved from historic Old Town to the intersection of Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road and Buford Highway.

Main Street Corners expects to have its first building completed by December 2005. The second Downtown building will be developed by Williams and his Madison Retail firm. Madison plans 31,000 sf of retail, an undetermined amount of office and restaurant space, 18 townhomes and 12 one-story flats in a three-story building.