Gwinnett's Pleasant Hill Road has a crime problem???

[B Wagner]

The Gwinnett Mall / Pleasant Hill area was caught up in a few things that have transpired in the last two decades. The growth of Gwinnett County ten to fifteen years ago was so overwhelming. There was the lack of roads coming in and going out, along with the lack of public transportation pushed the upgrading of the infrastructure along Hwy 85, Ga. 316, Hwy 29 and the Buford Highway areas. As this upgrading was being done there was sprawl of apartments and the movement of diverse people coming from the I 285 area up Buford Highway and they settled in at Jimmy Carter and over the next decade they moved upward towards Gwinnett Mall. As they settled in and all the construction to accommodate the rapid growth sprawled with them, they also divided Pleasant Hill Road with a median. This was the kiss of death for a lot of the smaller businesses there. This with the dip in the economy in the late eighty’s and early ninety’s put a lot of businesses out; Rich’s being bought up by Macy’s, Kohl’s closing up a main store there, and the overbuilding of retail space available made for a lot of empty buildings.
Then there was the building of The Mall of Georgia a decade ago. Being just right up the expressway and it already having the infrastructure and the lure of the bigger retail giants made this area more desirable as it serves a more upper class communities. This more than anything I believe helped kill off the Gwinnett Mall area.
But there are things happening that will help bring this area back. They have just voted in a local area tax, similar to the one they are using to redevelop the Jimmy Carter Blvd. area. There are developers who have been trying to set the area up as PUD (Planned Urban Development) for about a decade, but can never get the Gwinnett County government to approve any plans. With such a plan there is a lot of impact on a community and the developers never can produce a plan that suits the governments complete wishes for the area.
With the completion of the Hwy 85 / Hwy 316 interchange there will be more growth around this area on the eastern side of the mall. The Johns Creek and Berkeley Lake communities are spurring the growth back towards the mall from the Buford Highway or western side. In the middle Korean developers are buying up everything and are going to turn it into a Korean outdoor type shopping mall.
The upgrading of the Buford Highway area will continue to improve as they rezone and revitalize businesses there
There are groups of Chinese investors buying up parcels of land along Peachtree Industrial to make a tourist community similar to China Town in San Francisco. This has been an ongoing activity for the last decade, but I haven’t heard much about it here recently.
You will see in the next five to ten years that this area will upgrade and it will again be part of the thriving upscale Gwinnett County.

[KeepHIMalive]

I lived there about two years ago and it was pretty nice...I loved it. I haven't been there for a while now and was thinking about moving back there about a month ago..GUESS NOT ANYMORE!!!!!!!

[Craziaskowboi]

I go to Q-Zar regularly, which is off Venture Drive near Pleasant Hill Road. I've never felt unsafe there. The biggest threats are the drunk rednecks that spill out of Wild Bill's, and the cops who race up and down Pleasant Hill Road for God knows what reason. (Maybe if I put a blue light on top of my truck, I can drive illegally and get away with it too!)

[ChubbyDecker]

The decline of that area appears to be spreading northward as well. Just this past weekend there was a shooting just outside of Discover Mills. Since I haven't been in that mall recently, has anyone noticed much of a change at Discover Mills just up the road?

[ryerr1]

I used to live in Post Court on Club Drive 1998 -2002 time.. it was the best until 2000 and slowly came down.. but after I left this property was sold and now the area is really shady.... I feel very nostalgic by seeing that.

[mrpanda]

I was thinking the same thing. That specific area will become the core center of the Korean community in Atlanta. Though many koreans are moving up to Suwanee, Johns Creek and S. Forsyth, that area will always be center of Atlanta's Korea Town. The only way i see Gwinnett Place mall survive and thrive is if they turned it into a Korean or an Asian Shopping Center. MegaMart's grand opening is a complete joke in my opinion. Either let the mall die, or renovate the entire mall to be accomodate the local Asian consumers. I also think if the Bricoe Gwinnett County airport passes, this area will become desirable.

Originally Posted by B Wagner

The Gwinnett Mall / Pleasant Hill area was caught up in a few things that have transpired in the last two decades. The growth of Gwinnett County ten to fifteen years ago was so overwhelming. There was the lack of roads coming in and going out, along with the lack of public transportation pushed the upgrading of the infrastructure along Hwy 85, Ga. 316, Hwy 29 and the Buford Highway areas. As this upgrading was being done there was sprawl of apartments and the movement of diverse people coming from the I 285 area up Buford Highway and they settled in at Jimmy Carter and over the next decade they moved upward towards Gwinnett Mall. As they settled in and all the construction to accommodate the rapid growth sprawled with them, they also divided Pleasant Hill Road with a median. This was the kiss of death for a lot of the smaller businesses there. This with the dip in the economy in the late eighty’s and early ninety’s put a lot of businesses out; Rich’s being bought up by Macy’s, Kohl’s closing up a main store there, and the overbuilding of retail space available made for a lot of empty buildings.
Then there was the building of The Mall of Georgia a decade ago. Being just right up the expressway and it already having the infrastructure and the lure of the bigger retail giants made this area more desirable as it serves a more upper class communities. This more than anything I believe helped kill off the Gwinnett Mall area.
But there are things happening that will help bring this area back. They have just voted in a local area tax, similar to the one they are using to redevelop the Jimmy Carter Blvd. area. There are developers who have been trying to set the area up as PUD (Planned Urban Development) for about a decade, but can never get the Gwinnett County government to approve any plans. With such a plan there is a lot of impact on a community and the developers never can produce a plan that suits the governments complete wishes for the area.
With the completion of the Hwy 85 / Hwy 316 interchange there will be more growth around this area on the eastern side of the mall. The Johns Creek and Berkeley Lake communities are spurring the growth back towards the mall from the Buford Highway or western side. In the middle Korean developers are buying up everything and are going to turn it into a Korean outdoor type shopping mall.
The upgrading of the Buford Highway area will continue to improve as they rezone and revitalize businesses there
There are groups of Chinese investors buying up parcels of land along Peachtree Industrial to make a tourist community similar to China Town in San Francisco. This has been an ongoing activity for the last decade, but I haven’t heard much about it here recently.
You will see in the next five to ten years that this area will upgrade and it will again be part of the thriving upscale Gwinnett County.

[girlenigma]

I know that if i need to go to a store that is at both the mall of georgia and pleasant hill I go to the mall of georgia even though i have to pass pleasant hill to get there. The reason is simply the stores in pleasant hill although "the same" are lower quality and have gone really downhill. This kind of degredation of something as simple as stores is a good reflection of most of the area in a lot of aspects. It is definently not the same as it was when I was younger and I'm not that old.