After literally going back to the drawing board, an Atlanta-based developer has put together large-scale redevelopment plans for a Cobb County site abutting a popular trail system. 

Branch Properties, a real estate investment firm and developer with projects dotted around the metro, submitted drawings and details last month for an ITP mixed-use proposal at 2840 Plant Atkinson Road. 

The 3.47 acres in question are situated at the southwest corner of Plant Atkinson and Atlanta roads, between the Chattahoochee River and Interstate 285, about five miles due south of The Battery Atlanta and the Braves’ Truist Park.  

The property today is home to 7 Bridges to Recovery, a transitional housing ministry with a church and shelter. 

The southern edge of the land in question is bordered by a newer section of the Silver Comet Connector Trail project, an under-construction, multi-use link between the Atlanta Beltline and the famed greenway that starts in Cobb County. 

How the main section for retail would relate to the Silver Comet Connector trail at 2840 Plant Atkinson Road. Branch; designs, The Preston Partnership

The ITP property at 2840 Plant Atkinson Road in relation to downtown Smyrna, Vinings, and intown Atlanta. Google Maps

Branch’s revised proposal for the site calls for two apartment buildings, each standing five stories. Those would include 250 units, ranging between 650 and 1,250 square feet, according to April filings made with Cobb County's Community Development Zoning Division.  

Elsewhere would be roughly 8,500 square feet for retail. (Drawings by Atlanta-based design firm The Preston Partnership indicate much of that retail space would face the Silver Comet Trail link next door.) 

Another component would be a 377-space parking deck, with 64 of those spaces reserved for retail. 

The property is currently zoned for heavy industrial uses, but Branch is seeking a rezoning designation called RRC (Regional, Retail, Commercial). 

Proposed footprint of two five-story buildings of infill development in Cobb County. Branch; designs, The Preston Partnership

Branch; designs, The Preston Partnership

The proposal is scheduled to come before the Cobb County Planning Commission on June 2, followed by the county’s Board of Commissioners for a zoning hearing June 16. 

Branch’s acquisition arm has owned the property in question since 2021. 

In summer 2023, it withdrew an application for redevelopment plans at the site that called for more apartments (393 total, with a nearly 800-space parking deck) that had faced community opposition, including a petition. 

At that time, according to the Vinings Village Homeowners Association, several members of Cobb County’s Board of Commissioners advised the development firm to not submit another application that included apartments, asserting that residential uses aren’t fit for an area zoned for heavy industrial.

Elsewhere around metro Atlanta, Branch is the developer behind Publix-anchored Summerhill Station south of downtown, the Hugh Howell Marketplace in Tucker, and the redevelopment of Gainesville’s Lakeshore Mall, among other projects. 

Head up to the gallery for more context and a closer look at 2840 Plant Atkinson Road plans today. 

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• Reader writes: Why isn’t this trailside Cobb County corridor thriving? (Urbanize Atlanta)