Friday
Nov072014
Riverwalk Village: The Site Plan
Friday, November 7, 2014 at 08:33PM I was able to get a copy of the site plan today for Riverwalk Village and it looks pretty darn good. I'm seeing a lot more pros than cons as I dig in. It utilizes the land and geography nicely and puts appropriate development in the appropriate place. Here's the plan overlaid on Google Maps.
There are 16 different sections broken out into 7 different categories, each with a slightly different intent and purpose. I think they have largely gotten these right. Here are the descriptions for each according to the site plan along with my commentary.
- A1-A2 - Office District - This area is well located along the western edge to place it closest to 400 which was an intentional decision by the developer to keep the residential and retail further away from the highway. I'm curious about it being further south on the site though as there will be a lot of commuters driving through to get to the offices. That could be a positive for the retail and it would be great to be able to get out of the office and walk to the river during lunch break.
- B1 - Medium Density Residential (Townhomes & Single Family) - The residential is toned down from the East Roswell/Charlie Brown proposal from 2007. In fact, there are roughly half the number of units coming down to 1500+ from 3000. I don't see any single family on the site plan but the description calls for it. We'll see if that happens. I really like that this B1 parcel it is situated close to the river and what will eventually be more parks and trails in Riverwalk Village.
- C1-C8 - Mixed Use Development District (Residential & Non-Residential Uses, Such as Retail, Restaurant, Civic, Office, Multi-Family, Entertainment) - This one is a bit tough to envision but the obvious main point is that it will front what appears to be a Main Street that bisects the new development. This could create a great walkable street on the east side of town that currently has nothing at all close to a walkable urban street. Or.. It could end up looking plasticy and contrived like Town Brookhaven. It will hopefully take its inspiration from Serenbe, Downtown Woodstock and Glenwood Park. I like that there will be a small bridge crossing the lake.
- D1 (with alternate) - School or Alternate Residential District - This one is well played. The developer has to expect that their largest opposition is going to come from Martins Landing. This part of the property abuts 21 single family homes along Trailmore Dr & Trailmore Pl. So, they place a school that will cater to children with disabilities on the adjacent property. If for some reason, there is enough objection to the school, they have prepared option two which will be townhomes and multi-family from what I can tell. The one thing that seems a bit ridiculous is that the multi-family and the townhomes each have their own entrance/exit on to Old Alabama. There should be street connectivity between the properties.
- E1-E2 - Entertainment District (Restaurant, Retail, Grocery, Multi-Family) - Everyone loves entertainment. The lone rendering which I shared in my first post on Riverwalk is, from what I can tell along the lake in what looks to be E1. They've done an excellent job putting this area next to the lake and it appears they will utilize the water in an urban fashion actually building right up to it which differs significantly from most modern development which caters to the environmental memes of water quality protection at all costs. (One reason we can't develop much at all along the Chattahoochee). I'm thinking the water in the lake won't be as blue as the rendering depicts though. Whatever they've done, it sure does attract a lot of Rendering People though. Be prepared to be Entertained!
- F1 - Hotel District (Hotel, Civic, Multi-Family) - The articles and PR releases floating around are calling for a ~200 key hotel. That would give this new hotel 28 more rooms than the Doubletree. It will be positioned directly on the little lake. Once again, well thought out. Roswell needs this. Period!
- Greenspace - (Parks, Trails, Landscaping) - This is a huge plus for this development and I sure hope they get it right. There is a real opportunity to differentiate the development from virtually any other in Atlanta. Mixed-Use with a connection to the Chattahoochee River and the Roswell Riverside Trail. Wow! I'd like to see the city jump on the opportunity to finally connect the Big Creek Greenway to the River by somehow extending the trail from Big Creek Park down through this project and to the River. There aren't many details yet on the greenspace but given what they are doing with the rest of the property, I'm thinking this will be a win.
Our next post will take a look at transportation and potential traffic issues and after that, we'll hypothesize on what this means for Roswell and in particular, the Historic District given that it will have Avalon, Alpharetta City Center and now Riverwalk Village to compete with.
Reader Comments (15)
Here are a couple of things i'm interested in with hopes that Riverwalk can live up its potential and be net positive. I think it has all to do with quality.
- To your comment in your earlier post: "I'm unsure of the developer's background but I'm optimistic". I'm hearing this too regarding people not being familiar with the actual builder(s). My understanding is that so far the landowner is looking to "re-entitle the property" as their website says. Then, based on some questions i asked, i think they will not personally develop and manage all these buildings. Instead, I believe they will need to identify and farm much of it out to developers. Knowing who will develop the property, whether they are top tier, what their success stories are, and who will operate it once it is developed will make it much easier for people to be confident this will not be junky. Maybe Tony can comment on that and fill in any gaps in my understanding. Have the developer been active in any of the local groups that promote walkability and new urbanism? Have they built transit oriented developments?
- There is an opportunity to change the perception and reality of apartments in Roswell with this project. I hope they take the opportunity. People are always worried about apartments because much of the index crime in Roswell is in or near the apartment complexes. Every one of these apartment complexes started out filled with well-off young professionals and went downhill from there. It looks like most of the 1500 residences will be multifamily (apartment or condo?). It would be great to confirm that the multifamily on the property will not have any new standalone apartment buildings, but instead, true walkable residential-over-retail buildings, with both the multifamily and the retail tenants of at least an Avalon caliber and with similar scale and proportions, height, etc.
- Could there be a better location in metro Atlanta for Orvis than on the Chattachoochee? Wonder if they can cancel their Avalon lease :-) But Seriously, "Residential-over-Kona Grill" and "Residential-over-Moe's Southwest Grill" are two entirely different things. Riverwalk if you're listening, PLEEEASE give us something like the former and promise we will never see anything close to the latter. Another reason the project needs a public figurehead to cast vision so people aren't imagining the retail as basically Hartsfield Airport Concourse C. We need Quality, Quality, Quality for the residential to work long term and for Class A Office to work.
Also my hope is that, like Avalon/NAP, this company is a strong and solvent enough to be able to build the uses simultaneously like Avalon, not piecemeal. And that the City of Roswell can, as Alpharetta did, work with the developer to assure it.
On Marta - i have asked about this a few times, and was hopeful the station would be near us, but Roswell has said they still cannot get information from Marta regarding where they will put the Holcomb/400 station. It sounds just as likely to be on the NW corner as on the SE corner of Holcomb Bridge and 400. What they did say is that it will definitely have to be underground, as they will have to tunnel into the hill due to the slope of the terrain after it crosses the river. They said the trains can't climb that slope. In any case, just like Avalon (based on what i see in the Avalon parking lots), this project will be auto-oriented for the first 15-20 years of its lifespan pending marta coming in. What this property has over Avalon in that regard is that marta has said they will not put a station at Windward but will put a station at Holcomb Bridge. So even it it is on the West side, a pedestrian bridge or pedestrian tunnel connection could cover that.
Anyway, let's see where this goes -- i have questions but am staying hopeful! Can Riverwalk at least start a twitter account? :-)
Who are these people and can they pull it off?
Your point about this project possibly being farmed out to different development teams is concerning. Avalon essentially has two.. NAP and Monte Hewitt. I think that worked pretty well for ensuring the mega-project maintained consistency.
Good luck changing the perception on apartments... There's a huge difference between geographically isolated single-use garden apartment complexes and the urban style walk-ups that are being built these days though. I think the latter will be more effective in maintaining a more desirable clientele. If you build a place that gives the people a reason to care for it.. they will care for it.. regardless of whether they are renters or owners.
There is definitely an opportunity for some unique retail and dining. Orvis would be a great fit. I also think of REI. What about Roswell Bikes relocating? (I'm sure their lease is ridiculously cheap where they are though.) To your point.. we definitely don't need the chain type restaurant tenants there though.
I'm going to put out some thoughts on transportation in the next few days. I definitely agree that the MARTA rail would need to go underground due to the incline from the river. Imagine coming up an escalator from a train in into Riverwalk... maybe even a circulator shuttle to take people to the river and to the Historic District.. (that's getting a little ahead of ourselves though)
One last thing.. I agree that there needs to be a Mark Toro type figurehead on this to ensure it is done right.
I really like most of what I see on the plan as posted above even though I have already seen a different version (how fast is the plan changing at the moment?) However, 10-story mid-rise buildings are not in keeping with the character of Roswell and should be placed as far away from homes as possible, closer to the GA400 intersection.
I am looking forward to seeing your future post about traffic issues. In my opinion, this one single issue will make or break this project. The GA400/HBR intersection and particularly the HBR corridor is a traffic nightmare and will only get worse once this development is completed and fully occupied. Riverside Rd also has serious congestion problems, particularly on the west side of GA400, adjacent to Riverside Park and up to Roswell Rd (when will that old bridge over Vickery Creek be widened?) Riverwalk Village will only add to the traffic and will also impact Dogwood Rd. I guess my question is: does the city and state (re: GA400 exit ramps) have plans to widen roads and ramps to accommodate this future development?
@Tony, the site plan I used was received by the city on 11/4 which I believe was after their initial 'public' meeting. So, I'm just guessing here, there may have been some tweaks based on feedback.
@Walt The only plans I have seen for an additional exit off 400 is one that would be an early exit off the 400 ramp. It would basically be where the C8 block is on this site map. It would peel off and direct cars to the roundabout in the site plan. I'm a fan of that idea. I don't support any plan that would require widening riverside. I don't mind more traffic on riverside during rush hours but widening it would be a catastrophe.
@Tony The bridge over Vickery Creek will not be 'widened.' Rather, it will become two bridges one for east bound and one for west bound cars. It's part of the Historic Gateway project that is just now finishing up its Environmental Impact Study. That will probably be complete 2018 or 2019. It's been in the planning stages for about 4 years now.. unbelievable how long planning a road takes.
I am also DEEPLY concerned about the traffic as it is already bad enough, ESPECIALLY on Holcomb Bridge and hundreds of other new homes are already sighted to be going in further down Holcomb Bridge.
"Estimated Project Completion Dates:
This project/phase: Phase 1 - 2018-2019
Overall project: 2026-2029"
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/DRI/InitialForm.aspx?driid=2456