sunshine and rope swings

10.24.2006

"Trinity Triangle" to become new "Cityville at Decatur" - Dekalb Biz Briefs

I think the most important part of this is that it leads me to believe MSR must either be re-locating or shutting its doors...

The Decatur Downtown Development Authority and the Decatur Planning Commission have approved plans for a new mixed-use development project at the "Trinity Triangle" at the intersections of E. Howard Avenue and E. Trinity Place directly across the railroad tracks from Agnes Scott College. The project – referred to under the working name Cityville at Decatur – combines the properties of the Relax Inn, the temporary Decatur city hall in what had previously been a meat storage building, Dairy Queen and local hangout My Sister’s Room.

The proposed project, which will sit on 2.58 acres, includes 210 apartments and 5600 square feet of retail space on the first floor fronting East Trinity Place. The Dairy Queen, a well-loved member of the local community will find a home in the project, as planners intend to offer long-time franchise owner Nisar Momin the opportunity to own his store instead of merely renting space. In addition, the Dairy Queen will feature drive-through service, a unique feature in a project like this.

Many of the apartments will be designed for upscale clients, but some will be priced for low-income residents, a requirement insisted on by city planners. A parking deck will have one parking space for each bedroom for the apartment residents, plus 110 public parking spaces for the retail businesses and 30 spaces for a new restaurant to be located in the old train depot across E. Trinity.

The development will feature a clubhouse, swimming pool and fitness center for the apartment residents. The average rent is predicted to run $1250 per month when the project opens in 2008. Final designs continue to evolve, but the project includes construction of streetscape improvements to help connect this portion of the downtown business district with the square.

Improvement of this block at an important downtown gateway has been a vision for more than a decade. The challenge has been assembling several individual parcels of land, and then finding a developer – in this case, FW Apartment Development Company – willing to work with the city to implement the latter’s vision. The ever growing popularity of Decatur as both an entertainment destination and a place to live also has helped move the project along by raising land values in and around the commercial district. Construction will start in early 2007 with completion around the middle of 2008.

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