Powder Springs Downtown Development Authority has agreed to terms with Novare Group that will have the Atlanta-based developer purchase 6.3 acres of downtown property in order to construct an estimated $38 million mixed-use development with multi-family units and retail space.
Under an agreement reached by the two parties in mid-May, Novare Group is set to purchase a 4.9-acre assemblage on which currently sits Powder Springs’ City Hall and Community Development facilities, along with a nearby 1.4-acre property on Hotel Avenue. The purchased land would be redeveloped by Novare to construct nearly 5,000 square feet of commercial property to allow for separate retail and restaurant spaces, along with 221 apartments with surface parking.
The project’s 221 multi-family apartments would create a greater residential presence downtown, which city leaders say would fuel current and new businesses in the corridor and other nearby areas.
“Real estate experts have been telling us for years: Retail follows rooftops,” said Mayor Al Thurman. “City residents have been seeking new restaurants and other businesses for years, and this will create further potential for those entities to come to Powder Springs.”
Novare will purchase the 6.3 acres from the Downtown Development Authority for $3.5 million.
“We at Novare Group are honored and excited to be working with Mayor Thurman and his team at Powder Springs on this mixed-use town center development at Thurman Springs Park,” said Jim Borders, CEO of Novare Group. “We are all in on the Powder Springs vision, the proximity to the Silver Comet Trail, and the overall friendly quality of life in southwest Cobb County.”
Powder Springs is in the design phase of a project to expand and remodel the city’s existing Municipal Court facility to add a second story to the facility and allow it to accommodate City Hall and Community Development personnel and operations. The city will relocate its personnel to other DDA-owned properties downtown after moving out of the its buildings on the city hall property assemblage and until renovations to Municipal Court facilities are completed.
Novare Group is no stranger to the metro market, having developed multifamily units in Atlanta, Lawrenceville and Newnan, as well as Augusta and across the Sunbelt region, from Virginia to Texas. Since its founding in 1992, it has developed more than 16,500 residences and 1.2 million square feet of Class-A office space, overseeing over $3.5 billion of real estate development and investment, according to its website.
Powder Springs is one of Cobb County’s fastest-growing cities, with an estimated population of 15,758 per 2019 Census estimates. It is also the county’s oldest city, originally incorporated as Springville in 1838 and later the nickname “Gunpowder Springs” because of the gunpowder-like sediment that resulted from the mineral content of the spring water. Today, residents and visitors to Powder Springs enjoy the closest downtown to the Silver Comet Trail, a 61.5-mile paved trail that runs through Cobb, Paulding and Polk counties.
