The Dunwoody Development Authority has approved the final bond documents for the multi-use High Street project, making way for construction to start.
The Development Authority first approved a roughly $19 million tax break for the development, which includes apartments, back in February of 2021, and later approved a “Memorandum of Understanding,” according to the authority’s attorney Dan McRae. The authority approved the final bond documents at an Aug. 26 meeting.
During the meeting, McRae said the bond amount for Phase 1 of the project has increased to $380 million. The project will be built on about 36 acres at the northwest intersection of Perimeter Center Parkway and Hammond Drive. The multi-use development would include 150,000 square feet of retail, about 600 apartments, and around 40,000 feet of new loft office space, according to its website.
Economic Development Director Michael Starling clarified in an email that the bonds for this project are “cashless” bonds.
“The city is not issuing or backing bonds for this project,” he said in an email. “The bonds are the vehicle for the tax savings High Street will receive.”
Starling also said that while the increase in the bond amount might mean an increase in the dollar amount of tax savings for the project, that will not necessarily be the case.
“We agree to a tax savings schedule … per year of the project which is applied to the Tax Assessors Valuation for that year,” he said in an email. “The bond amount went up because the amount High Street is planning to invest in the project went up. That does not necessarily correlate with what the Tax Assessor will value the property once the project is built.”
John Gagnier – who attended the meeting as a representative of the developer, GID Development Group – said with the bond resolution approved, GID feels confident that construction on the project will begin in 2021.
“Our hope is to do that as quickly as possible between now and the end of the year,” Gagnier said. “So if we can get all of these pieces in place … we will start construction immediately thereafter.”
Gagnier said interest in the project from retailers has been high.
“We are in various levels of discussion, from letter of intent through lease negotiation, with several tenants,” he said. “I can’t tell you who they are right now because of confidentiality, but we are getting very good traction.”
