On Monday, February 14th, the Woodstock City Council approved a letter of intent with Woodstock City Partners outlining the roles and responsibilities of each party regarding the City Center project at the former site of Morgan’s Ace Hardware. In 2015, Morris and Fellows was selected as the city’s private development partner for a development project on city-owned property along Towne Lake Parkway following a competitive request for qualifications and formed Woodstock City Partners to act as master developer of the project. The city council decided to turn its attention to the acquisition and redevelopment of the Ace site after it became available and determined it was a better location for the planned parking deck associated with the project.
The City of Woodstock will fund public infrastructure improvements including approximately 650 spaces in a public parking deck, modifications to the existing road and pedestrian network and a much-needed meeting and event facility. It is anticipated that public infrastructure improvements will be funded through SPLOST and other revenue sources without having any impact on the City’s General Operating Fund.
“Tonight, our council has taken an exciting first step towards completing a defining project for the center of our city,” stated Mayor Michael Caldwell. “This step represents a handshake enabling Woodstock City Partners to begin investing in design and engineering for the project while our city starts to move forward with our public information process. Woodstock is committed to investing in transformative public infrastructure on this site which will yield significant improvement in both traffic and parking issues while also incentivizing brand new private investment both at this site and throughout the city.”
Cheri Morris, president of Morris and Fellows and Woodstock City Partners has assembled a development team that will be tasked with delivering an $80 million-dollar private development focusing on additional retail and restaurant opportunities, a boutique hotel with meeting space, and professional office space. They will purchase the private parcels from the city for $1.5 million. “Since our first downtown development opened in 2010 Woodstock has become a regional shopping, dining and entertainment destination. With its ongoing commitment to fostering its downtown’s unique vibrancy, city leadership has helped us envision a best-in-class city center with significant investment in infrastructure to support and amplify the existing entertainment hub.”
It is anticipated that the public information for this project will begin this spring and the project could open in mid 2024. For more information about the City of Woodstock, visit woodstockga.gov.