City Amends Zoning to Allow $40M Church in Mixed-Use Development

The city already has amended the zoning to allow the church to be developed in an office park, city staffers confirm for GlobeSt.com. Downtown Atlanta brokers following the crush of newly announced commercial projects for the area tell GlobeSt.com they can't recall a comparable church project being allowed to surface in a total office park environment where alcohol will continue to be served at nearby restaurants.

Church leaders have told city planning officials the building is being designed to look like an office structure and not like a conventional church building to attract worshippers more familiar with office building appearances. The development cost of the church is also in line with construction costs facing new Buckhead office developments, area brokers tell GlobeSt.com.

Based on the overall $40-million development cost, the hard construction cost of the church could come in near $216 per sf, area construction sources tell GlobeSt.com. Most new class A office construction in the metro area is going up at $150 to $175 per sf, according to construction sources. The church will have 350 parking spaces plus a license to use additional parking at Tower Place.

North Point Ministries has been holding services in Buckhead since Easter 2003 in an empty Harris Teeter grocery building. The ministry also has a 2,000-seat sanctuary under construction in Cumming. The Buckhead church is shooting for a late 2006 opening. At its Alpharetta headquarters, the ministry has an 83-acre campus which brokers describe as looking more like a large high school than a house of worship. The ministry also has churches in Athens, GA; Peachtree City, GA; and Dothan, AL.