Sandy Springs approved its first North End mixed-use rezoning for the North River Village Shopping Center on Roswell Road.
The new zoning classification was created to spur redevelopment at three North End shopping centers. This rezoning was approved for the northernmost shopping center at 8765 Roswell Road.
Property owner Stream Realty wasn’t required to submit a development proposal, but it submitted a plan to develop approximately 241 multi-unit residences and 81 townhomes. The plan would keep 35,000 square feet of existing retail and create 17,000 square feet of new retail space.
Jessica Hill, who represented the property owner, said Stream Realty bought the shopping center in 2015 and it has remained as commercial use since then.
“It’s had about 40 to 50 percent occupancy over Stream’s ownership of it. Obviously, it has struggled from a commercial perspective,” she said.
The new zoning classification does not require concrete and steel construction for the buildings. It does require the project to have at least 25 percent of the residential as single-unit homes.
It will include retail-ready space at the sidewalk level in the multi-unit development.
Councilmember Melody Kelley, who made the motion for approval, said this rezoning application is the next step of a lengthy process aimed at stimulating economic development in the North End of the city.
“This creation of a North End mixed-use supplemental zoning district sort of signaled to the development community not only the aspirations of our community but the fact that we were as a city willing to put a little bit of skin in the game by offering stick built or the deregulation in this particular district of our steel and concrete requirement,” she said.
Planning and Zoning Manager Michelle McIntosh-Ross confirmed that the developer must complete the 25 percent single-family housing units before a certificate of completion can be issued for the project.