Yay! Wall being torn down on E/W connector in Smyrna (West Vinings) - new development (Atlanta: homes)

[netdragon]

Commuters may notice a wall is finally being torn down on the E/W connector at the corner of South Cobb Drive, where the Home Depot garden center was in Smyrna (West Vinings) (Street view here). Since I live not a half mile from there, all I can say is good riddance wall!!! I wish I could say I was the reason, since I called to complain about it when it went up because it blocked the view of the Atlanta skyline and was just straight cement. The story behind it was that it was budgeted 10 years ago when the area was much different (less homes, mostly industry). So nothing aesthetic was originally factored in considering it was part of the widening, sidewalk and median project. The engineer said the top of the wall can't be torn down without jeopardizing its ability to hold back cars from going over the drop-off. All they could do was add a facade. That was earlier this year, though the engineer told me that with the Home Depot garden center closing, they could have probably done things differently if they had only known before they started working.

So why is the wall being torn down you may ask?

Well, apparently there is a new business going in at the corner and it will be at street level, making the wall unecessary. I'm so happy to see it go. Hopefully the new development blocks less of the skyline. I think no matter how big the footprint is, that will be pretty much a given even if it is pretty close to the road.

Now here's an interesting thing: I have suspicions they are going to build underground parking there! I love when developers make good use of land. It seems to me that since there is already a wall on one side, it only makes sense to use that as part of an underground parking structure. It wouldn't be much more expensive, most likely.

Note: You can't see the skyline well in this horrible picture (the background looks closer in real life). The picture is taken from about 20 feet from the Silver Comet Trail connector (behind the camera).

[SmyrnaVinings]

Just as an update to the post, there won't be any underground parking. Rather they're filling in with dirt to raise the elevation and make it more practical for retail. Interesting thing will be to see if Starbucks ends up going in there since it would be a much better location than they have on the other side of the street (and which is scheduled to be closed). Just not sure what they're doing to prevent a mudslide from taking out Jim & Nick's.

[netdragon]

Thanks. What about residential? I think it'd be a shame if it weren't at least partially mixed-use.

The good news is that it looks like the street-level outparcels will be on the West edge of the lot, so they won't block out the skyline. Also on the East side there's a retention pond (below the blue circle in the image from the previous post).

I hope if they make it 2 level (e.g. residential and offices on the 2nd floor) that they put in a plaza and space things out so that we can still see through. I imagine someday they will be going taller on that lot as Vinings fills in more.

Right now there is only grass being planted on the side facing Jim & Nick's. I imagine that will eventually become stone and groundcover mixed with staircases, ramps and what-not.