By Mark Woolsey
The Town Center Community Improvement District (CID) and its companion organization Town Center Alliance are moving long-anticipated improvements along at a steady clip, says its executive director, with notable infrastructure improvements in the pipeline representing just part of 17 current projects totaling a whopping $75 million in current investment.
“The state of the district is strong,” asserts Tracy Styf. She points to the CID’s funding that comes from self-taxing commercial property owners, a monetary source which has steadily increased. That revenue is up to just over $4 million annually, she says.
An update on projects, the district’s impacts and prospects, and a widened focus stretching outside the CID’s boundaries were all aspects of last week’s third annual State of the District gathering at the Governor’s Gun Club. Styf says the energy in the room was palpable.
“We’re in a place where we have a diverse ecosystem when it comes to different assets on the ground,” she says. “Retail is proving to be strong, Class A office is holding steady. We have nearly 48 thousand students at Kennesaw State University. Finding places for them to go to live, recreate, and learn, that’s really important.”
In addition to KSU, Cobb County International Airport and the Mall at Town Center area are also part of the 6.25-square-mile taxing entity.
This year’s meeting, drawing a crowd of nearly 200 people, highlighted milestones such as Phase Three of the South Barrett Reliever project, an overall $56 million effort designed to take traffic off of Barrett Parkway—estimates are a coming 22 percent reduction in traffic—with a bridge over I-75 and its managed lanes and connection to Busbee Parkway. That third phase is expected to be complete sometime in 2025, completing the alternative to Barrett and providing the last connection to the district’s bike/pedestrian loop. It’s funded by the tax on district commercial property owners, county SPLOST money, and state and federal dollars.
Green space improvements were also highlighted, with the completion of phase one of Lanie Park, an almost four-acre pocket park at the roundabout on Barrett Lakes Boulevard. That’s in addition to a number of signage, intersection, lighting, pedestrian safety, and greenspace upgrades that are either in the works or completed.
The gathering’s programming also looked outside the CID’s boundaries, casting a wider focus. A panel on sports tourism comprised KSU representatives, as well as Cobb Travel and Tourism and an Atlanta regional sports agency, focusing not only on the considerable impact of KSU collegiate athletics moving to Conference USA but larger-framed events such as the World Cup, The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and the Super Bowl. All are headed for Atlanta between 2025 and 2028.
“What are the impacts of those events on our district?” wondered Styf. She cited KSU’s Fifth Third Stadium as an example, noting that it will be used as a practice facility for the World Cup.
“We really will be on a world stage in coming years, and we’re looking at it as how do we think about projects to improve and enhance the district now and into the future.”
A second panel looked at the district’s diversity from a project and investment perspective. She indicated that with a variety of different property types and businesses in the district, the CID has been able to weather economic twists and turns, including the pandemic, quite well.
Styf says that panel featured the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlanta Regional Commission, a representative of Georgia Power, and a local developer who’s also a board member, talking about successes and challenges.
The retail market, noted Styf, is “tight” while the housing market is strong and has the capacity to accommodate additional residents in the area. Looking to the future, district officials have initiated or completed a number of studies, including an examination of freight traffic and hubs and a number of Livable Centers Initiative studies, including possible enhancements to the Chastain Road and Bells Ferry Road corridors.