12-Acre Land Deal Closes in Marietta

The city had the 11.95 acre previously appraised at $7.32 million or $602,510 per acre ($13.83 per sf). The agency voted unanimously in January to do the deal with Winter, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. Marietta, with an estimated population of 67,000, is seven miles northwest of Downtown Atlanta.

Winter Properties plans a mixed-use venture on the site that will have a build-out value of $112 million, Bill Marsh, the company's vice president, tells GlobeSt.com. The redevelopment project will have 174 residential condominiums, 141 townhomes and a total 78,000 sf of retail and office space just off the Marietta Square. The project has "the potential to become the premier location for residents and businesses in central Marietta," Marsh says.

"This is the biggest private development project in the history of the city, done without tax assistance [and] implementing the goals established by the Marietta City Council four years ago," says MHA chairman Hap Smith. "The potential for this development is unlimited."

Smith says the closing "culminates a three-year process that began when the housing authority determined to demolish the obsolete and substandard apartments at Clay Homes and sell the property for redevelopment." MHA vice chair Cathy Kampa adds the project will be "the greatest development the City of Marietta has ever seen."

Besides the former public housing site, the transaction includes properties on Roswell and Waterman streets acquired by the housing authority "to enhance the prospects of sale," Smith says. MHA executive director Ray Buday says most of the sale proceeds will be used by the authority for housing assistance to low-income families.

The housing authority selected Winter Properties from a list of nine qualified developers who were bidding for the job. Among them were Trammell Crow Co., Pacific Group, Jolly Development, Urban Realty Partners, Hedgewood Development and Goldman Co.