Peachtree Corners Looking To Refurbish Holcomb Bridge Road

PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA — Once a thriving business and housing corridor, Holcomb Bridge Road leading into Peachtree Corners has seen better days.

Now, the city wants to do something about it.

In a monthly message to constituents, Peachtree Corners Mayor Mike Mason said Wednesday that the city has completed a survey of the area and is looking at ways to work with the private sector to revitalize it.

"The area is one of the city’s major gateways and finding ways to re-energize and redevelop the area will not only improve the overall health of this part of Peachtree Corners, but will also continue to increase values for both commercial and residential properties citywide," Mason said.

Recently, the city commissioned a report from the Bleakley Advisory Group, looking primarily at office, retail and residential properties along the Holcomb Bridge Road corridor.

The survey found:

• Office buildings along Holcomb Bridge Road are aging, with an average age of 30 years, and a high number of them are vacant. There is no top-tier office space in the study's range.
• There are 60 retail properties in the area, many of them in strip-mall type buildings. Their average age is 25. Several of the retail centers are struggling, most notably Spalding Wood, which has a current occupancy of 47 percent.
• There are more than 4,500 apartment units in the corridor, representing 88 percent of the housing in the area. Most of the complexes were built in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Overall crime rates in the area are low, but in a handful of apartment complexes, the crime rate is roughly double that of the rest of the area. Three of the oldest apartment complexes account for a high percentage of the crime.

The report concludes that "there is significant opportunity for redevelopment which will in turn improve

the quality of life for Peachtree Corners’ citizens while improving the commercial tax base at the same
time," Mason said.

Mason said he has appointed a subcommittee of city council members to work with Peachtree Corners' community development director and himself to develop a policy to propose to the council as a whole.

He said the city will consider redevelopment strategies including incentives and redevelopment bonds as ways to refurbish the area, particularly eyeing rental apartments and commercial properties.

Photo courtesy City of Peachtree Corners