MARCH 2021 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net
Community | 3
High Street project OK’ed for $19M tax break that includes apartments
BY SAMMIE PURCELL
The Dunwoody Development Authori
ty has approved a roughly $19 million tax
break for the first phase of the multi-use
High Street development. The tax abate
ment includes the development’s apart
ments, despite a previous arrangement
leaving them out.
The High Street development would be
built on about 36 acres at the northwest in
tersection of Perimeter Center Parkway
and Hammond Drive. The multi-use de
velopment would include 150,000 square
feet of retail, 40,000 square feet of new of
fice space and 598 apartments, according
to their website.
Approval for the tax abatement was not
unanimous. Member Greg Killeen was the
lone vote against the tax break. In 2019,
the developer -- GID Development Group -
originally requested a tax break schedule
where roughly 50% of their taxes would be
reduced over a 10-year period, according
to Killeen. That tax break did not include
apartments.
Jeff Ackemann, vice chair of the Devel
opment Authority, pointed to the changing
construction landscape when asked why
the authority granted the abatement.
“The world has changed since the time
we initially started talking to GID about
High Street,” said Ackemann in an email.
“Retail as we know it, construction costs,
the viability of office space, where and
how we're going to live in the future have
changed. High Street’s latest proposal re
flects those new realities. As a develop
ment authority, we concluded this was the
kind of developer and the kind of transfor
mational development that we could and
should support.”
At a Jan. 21 meeting, GID requested a
75% tax abatement schedule over 10 years,
including the apartments, amounting to
about $25 million. While the development
authority deemed that amount too high,
they did approve the 50% schedule with
apartments.
Killeen said he was concerned with the
new arrangement’s inclusion of the apart
ments, which took up the majority of the
square-footage and could bring in a signifi
cant number of new residents.
“If they’re going to be using our city ser
vices, then they should pay taxes,” Killeen
said.
Killeen said he was concerned about
overcrowding in Dunwoody, specifically in
the city’s schools.
“There’s a lot of overcrowding in the
schools,” he said. “And as apartments are
being built in Dunwoody and Chamblee ...
there are some [new] elementary schools,
but they’re especially not keeping up with
it at the high schools.”
The DeKalb County School District does
not have a seat at the table when it comes
to tax abatements, despite property tax
es making up a significant portion of their
funding. Recent legislation introduced by
state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Deca-
tur) would give school districts more say in
the tax abatement process.
“Along with other mayors in DeKalb
County, we have begun to work with
DeKalb County School Board members
and DeKalb County commissioners to de
velop a strategy around abatements,” said
Mayor Lynn Deutsch in an emailed state
ment.
Vice Chair Ackemann said in an email
that 75% of the multi-family housing
planned in the development includes one-
bedroom and studio units.
“In looking at the totality of the project,
the likelihood it would stress our school
system is low,” he said.
Killeen also cited concerns about the ef
fect the new development may have on oth
er retail in the area. Phase One of the proj
ect consists of about 175,000 square feet of
retail space, and Perimeter Mall is less than
a half-mile away.
Killeen cited Avalon, a mixed-use devel
opment in Alpharetta, which he said hurt
retail in the surrounding area. Avalon sits
just two miles away from North Point Mall.
The developer for Avalon, North Ameri
can Properties, teamed up with GID on the
High Street Development project in 2018,
but left the project in 2019.
“There’s only so many retail dollars
that are going to be spent in a community,”
Killeen said. “I’m concerned about what it
potentially could do to Perimeter Mall.”
The issue of apartments at the High
Street development dates back to before
Dunwoody became a city, almost 15 years
ago. The development was originally ap
proved for zoning by DeKalb county in
2007 - a year before Dunwoody official
ly incorporated. In that same year, the
Dunwoody Homeowners Association
signed an agreement with GID that in
cluded zoning conditions to be part of
the approval process in DeKalb County.
Bill Grossman, who was the secretary
of the DHA at the time, said that when
the DHA was first approached by GID
about High Street, they asked for 4,800
rental apartments.
“We negotiated that number down
and ended up finalizing at 1,500 condos,
which was our preference, and 1,500
apartments, which was their prefer
ence,” he said.
The DHA was formed in the 1970s to
stop apartments from going into Dun
woody Village, according to Grossman.
He said GID has not violated the con
tract to his knowledge, but the DHA
would have standing to sue if it did.
The deadline for beginning construc
tion on Phase One of the High Street De
velopment is Dec. 31, according to a de
velopment schedule from the Jan. 21
Development Authority meeting. The
deadline for completion of the first
structure within the project is Oct. 1,
2023. If these deadlines are not met, the
approval of the tax abatement would be
void, according to a city spokesperson.
GID applied for land disturbance in
2019, according to city Community De
velopment Director Richard McLeod. He
said GID also applied for several build
ing permits, but has not paid for any
permits nor picked them up. GID re
submitted the building permits applica
tion with some revised drawings in late
2020. Those applications were reviewed
and approved, but have not yet been
picked up by GID.
GID did not respond to requests for
comment.
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