CHAMBLEE, GA-International Village, envisioned by the city and DeKalb County for the last 11 years as a global shopping, dining, entertainment and trade center, 10 miles north of Downtown Atlanta, is slated to become a reality when groundbreaking begins this fall on the $70-million, 500,000-sf venture on 30 acres next to the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.
Atlanta developer Peter Chang, managing partner of Atlanta Chinatown Investments LLC, and transplanted California architect Charles Schmandt have told the DeKalb County Economic Development Department they hope to have Asian Plaza, the first 260,000-sf phase of the project, completed by fall 2006.
The developers have also told the county the estimated economic impact of their project will be about $40 million over 12 years; generate about 3,000 new jobs; and produce $14 million in sales taxes to the state and $17 million for the county. The county's economic development arm confirms for GlobeSt.com several South American countries already are inquiring about having a presence at International Village. The developers are marketing the project worldwide.
"We're really not trying to become another Epcot," Jack Bai, a PDK Investments spokesman, tells GlobeSt.com. "International Village will embody the spirit of the international community in Atlanta and become a destination for international cuisine, shopping and entertainment."
Chang and Schmandt, through their PDK Investments LLC company, are negotiating with Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and Holiday Inn to construct a 250-room hotel on the 30 acres they bought from the county this year for $3.7 million or about $123,333 per acre. Area brokers tell GlobeSt.com the $2.83-per-sf price the developers paid for the dirt this year would probably go for $9 per sf today. Also planned is a conference center, an amphitheater that would stage live outdoor performances and pedestrian promenades that would host artist festivals and provide outdoor cafes.
The developers have also told the county the project, at build-out, will have an estimated value of $100 million, if they should ever decide to sell the enterprise. The Chamblee and airport location is considered ideal for the project, the developers say, because of the ethnic population mix in and around the suburban city of 9,552 residents. The city's website says 56% of its population are Latino; 24% White; 14% Asian; 3% African American; 2% are two or more races; and 1% are other ethnic minorities.
The development site is bordered by Chamblee Dunwoody Road on the north; Chamblee Tucker Road and the airport on the south; Chinatown Square on the west; and Cumberland Drive on the east. The project is about a half mile from the Chamblee Marta station. Huntley & Associates, an Atlanta consulting group, provided economic impact data to the developers.
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