Smyrna Mayor Hints at Selling Hickory Lake Property in 2014

It was in December 2010 when the City of Smyrna completed its purchase of a four-decade old and crime-riddled apartment complex near the intersection of Windy Hill Road and South Cobb Drive.

More than three years later, the City is still looking to sell the 47.5-acre site that cost it $16 million to buy and tear down.

But according to a report over the weekend in The Marietta Daily Journal, the former Hickory Lake Apartments site could be sold in 2014 to the Vinings-based real estate acquisition firm, Southeast Capital Companies, which according to its website, specializes in the development of multi-family, single-family, and mixed-use projects.

The Smyrna Downtown Area Development Corporation issued a bond to purchase the 92-building complex on Old Concord Road and has since paid off $3.4 million, including an $898,631 payment at the beginning of this month.

The next payment is due in August, as if the City maintains its twice-yearly payment schedule through 2035, it would spend approximately $32 million, including principal and interest, to rid itself of the problematic property that was a continual source of police and drug activity.

But now Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon tells the MDJ the city is “on track” to sell the property for $13 million, which is $4.5 million less than what it was listed for in late 2011 when the City began seeking a buyer for the renamed, Smyrna Grove. 

If it is sold for that price, the Atlanta brokerage firm NAI Brannen Goddard that is marketing the property would receive a 5 percent commission totaling about $650,000. So, for now, that’s roughly a $3.65 million loss, which critics say is much too much as Hickory Lake remains a risky venture using taxpayer money.

Bacon and proponents of the purchasing of Hickory Lake, however, contend it was the right thing to do for the long-term betterment of the northern portion of Smyrna and to help shape Smyrna’s destiny. 

Three-plus years after the City purchased the Hickory Lake property, where do you stand on the decision? Let us know in the comment section below.