ATLANTA — A plan to redevelop the West End mall in Atlanta is on pause for the third time. Just last year, a company had plans to turn the property into a mixed-use development.
Atlanta City Councilmember Jason Dozier said the news has been met with mixed emotions from the community.
“Everyone's disappointed," he said. "Southwest Atlanta communities have been disinvested for far too long. The hope was that this site would have been a planting a flag for showing residents that private developers care about our communities and in such a big way."
That 'big way' was coming in the form of 1.5 million square feet of new construction.
According to our partner, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, New York-based developer, the Prusik Group and co-owner of the mall, Charles Taylor, had plans of transforming the 12-acre site into housing – including 900 mixed-income apartments – retail, offices and a hotel.
Dozier said he found out about this update from a community leader who had recently talked to a business owner in the area.
"This was a development deal between a private seller and a private developer. My understanding is that they were still negotiating some of the finer points of the deal, and for whatever reason, there wasn't agreement," he said.
Taylor is an Atlanta native and also a partner at HT Group LLC. He was not available for an interview Thursday but told the Business Chronicle that he still wants to revive the mall with local restaurants, shops, and a grocery store.
Dozier hopes the property turns into a mixed-use development, and said his focus remains on making sure the mall’s surrounding community, prospers.
“I think we're doing a lot of that right now as we speak with some big public projects coming to the community around redesigning Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard, redesigning Lee Street to make sure that the experience of the people who live in the community is world-class," he said.
Dozier said he and councilmembers are going to make sure that businesses are thriving and are supporting the broader community, no matter what happens with the mall.
11Alive reached out to the Prusik Group for comment.