Halpern Submits Rezoning Request for Belmont Hills Site

The developer of the proposed Belmont Hills site at the corner of Windy Hill and Atlanta roads has made a move toward getting the project off the ground. Earlier this month Halpern Enterprises filed a zoning change request with the city that will be reviewed at the Sept. 10 meeting of the city’s Planning and Zoning Board.

Steve West, Halpern’s vice president of development, outlined what comes next.

“We requested to change the layout of some of the stuff that’s on our previous zoning plans,” he said “That requires going back through the zoning process again so we’ve submitted to do that. On top of that there’s market studies and site studies that have to be looked and reviewed before we can move forward with anything.”

Halpern is proposing moving the site’s multifamily component to the back side of the site between the new elementary school being built at the back of the lot and Windy Hill Road.

“If you looked at our old plans the site was developed into a number of pods—smaller development sites,” he said. “We had the multifamily component of that on Pod C. What we’re basically doing is taking that multifamily component and moving it back to Pod F, which didn’t have anything shown on it at the time.”

The Belmont Hills project has been in the works for several years. In 2008, the city approved a development agreement with Halpern Enterprises for a $250 million mixed-use redevelopment of the former Belmont Hills shopping center at the corner of Atlanta and Windy Hill Roads. West said the project was put on hold while developers waited to see what impact the economic downturn would have on the changing real estate market.

The Planning and Zoning Board will review the plans at the next meeting. If the body reaches a consensus its recommendation will go before the Smyrna City Council the following month. 

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