Friday, June 1, 2012
What would you like to see developed at the Jonquil Village site?
Visions for Vacancies is Smyrna-Vinings Patch's weekly feature that looks at a vacant building and asks readers what they'd like to see there. This is your chance to dream big. If it were up to you, what would you open there? Normally Visions for Vacancies highlights a vacant structure, but this week’s feature looks at an empty development—Smyrna’s Jonquil Village. Plans for Jonquil Village have changed several times over the years and a new plan is being developed by Branch Properties now. The original plan called for a mixed use development with high-end condominiums and Publix as an anchor store.Tampa, Fla.-based developer A.G. Armstrong was to complete the project, which won city approval for a $26.2 million tax allocation district …
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
City of Smyrna representatives say that while Jonquil Village was approved for TAD funding in 2006, no taxpayer money was ever collected for the development.
Some Smyrna residents want to know where the tax dollars they contributed to Tax Allocated District (TAD) funding for Jonquil Village went. According to Smyrna city officials, the money never left their pockets. At a recent roundtable meeting with Smyrna City Council Representative Teri Anulewicz, a Ward 3 resident asked about Jonquil Village and whatever happened to the Tax Allocated District (TAD) funding that was used on the development. According to city officials, no taxpayer money was ever used for Jonquil Village. “That’s a very common misconception,” Anulewicz said. “No taxpayer money was ever put into that.” Establishing Smyrna's Tax Allocated District In 2003, the city, county and school board agreed to establish a 140-acre Tax …
Friday, April 20, 2012
However, Smyrna city officials say there has been some interest in the property formerly home to Hickory Lake apartments.
Smyrna city officials reported that while plans for redeveloping Jonquil Village are progressing slower than they’d like, there has been some interest in the property formerly home to Hickory Lake apartments. Ward 3 Council Representative Teri Anulewicz said that she, Mayor Max Bacon and members of the city’s staff met with a representative from Branch Properties, Jonquil Plaza’s developer, who said that plans have slowed because of turnover at Publix. “There’s a new real estate manager for this zone,” she said. “He is responsible for all the Publix in basically Georgia north of Macon, South Carolina and eastern Tennessee. So they’re actually working with him on another Publix they’re developing in Nashville and it’s taking a longer time …
Friday, March 2, 2012
The Ward 7 City Council member updated his constituents about the state of the city and the status of some of its developments at a recent Bennett Woods neighborhood meeting.
Ron Fennel, Ward 7 City Council member, said he thinks Smyrna is well positioned to bounce back from the impacts of a sluggish economy. Residents of Bennett Woods and the surrounding neighborhoods brought their concerns and questions to Fennel at a neighborhood meeting Tuesday, Feb. 28 at City Hall. “We have a better positioning for the city of Smyrna than many of our competitive cities in Metro Atlanta to come out of these economic doldrums that we’re in,” he said. “I’m excited about the position we are in as Smyrna. We’re very business friendly. We welcome small businesses locating and relocating here or trying to help them grow.” Fennel explained that City Council members, four of whom are serving their first terms, mapped out …
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Branch Properties will resubmit a retail-only site plan for Jonquil Village in 10 to 20 days, said Teri Anulewicz, Ward 3 council member.
Smyrna City Council approved Branch Properties withdrawal of its proposed site plan for Jonquil Village at its meeting Monday, but that won’t be the last Smyrna hears from the firm. “We are not leaving the project,” said Ellen Smith, the attorney representing Branch Properties. “We are going back to the drawing board a little having heard not only your comments, but a number of other comments over the past two months since we’ve had the application on file. “We are still under contract. We haven’t terminated that contract and we are going back to the drawing board to really revisit the site and hopefully bring forth something that has renderings and that is more appropriate for this particular parcel.” Smith confirmed to the council that …
Monday, February 20, 2012
Schools, banks and the post office will be closed in honor of President's Day, but it will be a regular Monday for city officials including the city council.
Monday is President’s Day, which means the kids are out of school, banks are closed and there will be no postal service today. Kids at St. Benedict’s Episcopal Day School and Whitefield Academy get an extra day off, as Tuesday is a teacher in-service day. It’s just a regular workday for the City of Smyrna, however, and trash and recycling will be picked up as usual. It also means there will be a Smyrna City Council meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall. At the meeting the mayor and council will formally accept Branch Properties withdrawal of the proposed site plans for the Jonquil Village development on Atlanta Road. In an email to constituents Teri Anulewicz, Ward 3 council member, said Branch Properties would resubmit a retail-only …
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Branch Properties is withdrawing its current proposal for the Jonquil Village development and will resubmit a retail-only plan for the site in the coming weeks.
Branch Properties has announced that it wishes to formally withdraw its proposed plans for Jonquil Village and that they will resubmit a retail-only plan in the coming weeks, said Teri Anulewicz, Ward 3 city council member. “The Mayor and council will need to formally accept their withdrawal – this is on the agenda for the council meeting that is scheduled for this Monday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m.” Anulewicz said in an email. “After that, we expect Branch to submit a retail-only application and community development staff will begin working with Branch on design issues. We have been explicitly clear to Branch that we cannot understate that the ultimate design of this project is extremely important, and Branch is definitely aware of the …
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Half a dozen residents of the Williams Park neighborhood near Jonquil Village said they want the city to hold a planning and zoning hearing about the proposed development.
The Jonquil Plaza hearing may have been tabled till the Feb. 20 Smyrna City Council meeting, but that didn’t stop it from being Monday night’s hot topic. Several members of the Williams Park Neighborhood Association took to the podium during citizen input, but their points were largely the same. Their neighborhood abuts the proposed Jonquil Plaza development and they’d like to see the issue brought before the planning and zoning committee to allow residents more time to review the plans and share their views with mayor and council. “Please consider the long-term implications of this project,” said Ron Davis, a Williams Park resident. “This is a one-time opportunity to build out the heart of our city to the standards that it deserves.” …
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Smyrna city council on Tuesday night tabled the public hearing on the Jonquil Village development site plan and zoning conditions until next month.
Smyrna officials are yearning to see the Jonquil Village development project begin construction, but more than anything, they want to make sure the long delayed mixed-use project at the corner of Atlanta and Spring roads is done correctly. That was the prevailing sentiment at Tuesday’s city council meeting, where council members unanimously approved tabling a scheduled public hearing to discuss Branch Capital Properties’ site plan and zoning condition on the project until Feb. 20. “I don’t think there’s a person in the city who doesn’t want to see something happen with the site…but it is so critical that we really be certain of what we’re doing,’’ said Councilwoman Teri Anulewicz, who represents Ward 3 where the project is located. With …
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Several insiders have questioned whether the underground parking and apartments will remain once the final plans are approved for the Smyrna development project.
Sometime on Friday, the city of Smyrna will post the agenda for next Tuesday’s city council meeting. And when it is, expect the previously posted notice for a public hearing to discuss Branch Capital Properties’ site plan and zoning condition for the once-known Jonquil Village development project to be tabled. “It’s kind of a big deal,’’ said Councilwoman Teri Anulewicz, who represents Ward 3 where the project will be developed. “There’s a lot at stake and with four new council members, we want to make sure everyone is comfortable with the issue.” Tuesday’s meeting will be just the second for the four new members – Andrea Blustein, Ron Fennel, Susan Wilkinson and Corkey Welch. It’s possible more than one council meeting could pass before …
Brian
4:21 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
MS, it's free market. Considering we overwhelmingly denied them apartments and overwhelmingly said it has to be mixed-use and won't let them zone their way out of it, then it's a question of whether Branch was really the right match. However, with the real estate market rebounding, I'd expect some activity soon unless Branch Properties are waiting out Belmont Hills to see how that goes. This is a… more ›