Commission approves $650 million Athens mall redevelopment plan

In a historic vote on Tuesday, the Athens-Clarke County Commission approved a $650 million redevelopment plan for the Georgia Square Mall. At 70 acres, the development will be the largest in Athens' history.

The decision follows years of planning on how best to revive the area around the dying mall. After several months of delays, votes and drafting, the mayor and commission unanimously moved forward on the redevelopment project.

Reaching an agreement

The developers behind the 90-page proposed construction plan are the Leaven Group, a firm headed up by local developer Mark Jennings, and W&A Engineering, a civil engineering firm based in Athens. But the project as a whole has required careful coordination between many more government and private entities.

For starters, there was the community benefits agreement, which outlines which amenities the Leaven Group will create in exchange for TAD funding. The commission finally ironed out the full details of that plan on Tuesday after tabling the vote for several weeks.

The construction plan also needed a stamp of approval from the Clarke County Board of Education, which voted it forward 3-2 on Monday night.

Previous reporting:Plans in flux to redevelop Georgia Square Mall; Athens officials seek to get past hurdles

Tax allocation districts

The move also marks the first time Athens-Clarke County has used a tax allocation district (TAD) for a project of this magnitude. The commission passed legislation making TADs possible back in 2008, but didn't create any until 2020, when Athens-Clarke Mayor Kelly Girtz spearheaded an effort to designate six TADs throughout Athens.

When an area is redeveloped, property taxes increase. TADs allow local governments to earmark that future revenue to finance the costs of redevelopment. This subsidy makes blighted areas, which private developers see as riskier and more expensive to rebuild, more attractive. Athens lawmakers were inspired by the use of TADs in Atlanta and other large cities to generate funding for struggling areas.

Officials say that over the next 30 years, the redeveloped Georgia Square Mall will generate $189 million in new property tax. That revenue will be reinvested in the mall site in the form of what the Leaven Group and Athens-Clarke County calls "community benefits."

What happens now?

The redevelopment team is following an ambitious timeline. Over the next five to six years, it plans to demolish two-thirds of the mall. Some structures, like the Belk, will be left intact.

Those slated for demolition will be replaced with 70,000 square feet of commercial real estate plus 1,200 apartments, townhouses and senior living spaces. 10% of apartments, or 99 in total, will qualify as low-income housing, specifically earmarked for those making 60% of the area median income. The Leaven Group also agreed to reduce the rent price of 14,000 square feet of commercial space for Clarke County School District, the Boys and Girls Club, and minority- and women-owned businesses.

Other TAD-funded amenities will include walking and biking trails, 19 acres of greenspace, fixing the stormwater drainage system, and creating a bus station on Atlanta Highway.