Elizabeth Hunter
Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz defends the Georgia Square Mall redevelopment plan at the University of Georgia at 9 a.m. on Feb. 24. Girtz is hopeful that the plan will pass at the commission meeting on March 7. (Photo/Elizabeth Hunter)
Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz announced that he feels confident that the local government will approve the Georgia Square Mall redevelopment plan on March 7.
The Georgia Square Mall redevelopment has been a hot topic in Athens recently and was postponed for the second time at the commission meeting on Feb. 21. However, on Feb. 24, at a news conference held at the University of Georgia, Mayor Girtz insisted that he was positive that the plan would pass at the next meeting.
The three governing bodies that must vote to approve this redevelopment plan are Athens-Clarke County commission, Clarke County School District Board of Education and the Mall Area Redevelopment Committee. Approval would lead to the demolishing of as much as 63% of the existing mall.
Seventy-five acres would be opened up for new affordable housing units, retail units, a transit station and a green space with walking and biking trails. Close to 1,200 housing units would be available, but only 10% of those units will be affordable for the median income family.
Mayor Girtz cited 15 acres at the end of Boulevard, 20 acres on Barnett Shoals Road and 7 acres off Vine Street as areas where the local government plans to convert that land into workforce housing. Girtz said he believes that the mall redevelopment plan presents the opportunity to start to combat the current housing crisis.
“No one project is going to get you everything you need in any regard around housing, around youth development needs, around environmental need and so we’re having to work overtime as a local government,” said Girtz. “We take this seriously that we’re going to be bringing many, many, many housing opportunities to the table.”
The New York Times analyzed federal data on how housing availability has changed in U.S. urban areas, and Athens was at the top of the list. Athens’ housing moved from a 12% surplus of housing units in 2012 to a 2.4% deficit in 2019.
The redevelopment plan will cost approximately $426 million. In 2021, the ACC commission created a tax allocation district around the mall to stimulate redevelopment. Therefore, $189 million of that $426 million would come from the next 30 years of property tax revenue from the redeveloped site.
Girtz announced that he will be hosting a public input session on Thursday, March 2 to keep this process and decision as transparent as possible.
Why I Wrote the Story:
Due to the housing crisis currently happening in Athens, this story about a plan to redevelop the old mall and turn it into a housing development is extremely important to the community. This story taught me how to write about a broad issue and how to write based off of information learned in a news conference.