Hilton coming to Town Center
Posted: Thursday, June 22nd, 2006, 10:27 pm EST
Category: Real Estate News
Not Paris Hilton (thankfully), just her father’s hotel chain.
The Cobb County Commission today approved a plan to build a seven story Hilton hotel, along with a mix of offices, shops and restaurants, near the Town Center Mall. The project will include 42 townhomes, 15 shops and restaurants and office space. It will be located on Chastain Road near George Busbee Parkway. Developers and builders will break ground in mid August and finish the retail and office space by spring of 2007, with the hotel and townhomes opening later in that year.
Thanks to Cobb Real Estate blog for the info.
Marietta named one of 10 best communities in U.S.
Posted: Tuesday, June 20th, 2006, 3:54 pm EST
Category: Real Estate News
Cobbline (a great information service about Cobb County news and events) reports today….
The National Civic League has named the city of Marietta one of the 10 best communities in the nation as a 2006 All-America City, the oldest and most respected community recognition award in the country. Marietta beat out nearly 600 communities for the award, which recognizes exemplary grassroots community problem-solving. Only four other Georgia communities have won in the award’s 57-year history. Marietta was selected for the award for successfully resolving issues through active citizen involvement, volunteer and business resources, efficient government, community vision and collaboration.
As a resident in the City of Marietta, I can attest that it is a great place to live!
Golf Digest names Cherokee County #1 Golf-Home Market in the South
Posted: Friday, June 16th, 2006, 11:38 am EST
Category: Woodstock Real Estate
In the June issue of Golf Digest they have a Special Report on Real Estate and Cherokee County was selected as the #1 Golf-Home market in the South, which included 10 states in their criteria.
Thick pine forests, rolling countryside and panoramic views of the foothills are a big part of the appeal here, about an hour north of downtown Atlanta. "You get more value for your dollar here" than in some other parts of the state, says Kelly Reilly, director of marketing for Echelon, a community that includes the new Rees Jones-designed Georgia Tech Club. "You get a bit more space."
Here is a list of local golf courses in Cherokee County:
Bridge Mill Athletic Club
Canton Golf Club
Centennial Golf Club
Cherokee Colf Center
Eagle Watch
Golf Club at Bradshaw Farm
Hawks Ridge
The Lake Arrowhead Yacht & Country Club
Towne Lake Hills Golf Club
Woodmont Golf & Country Club
Slow Growth Policies Add To Sprawl, Not Reduce
Posted: Friday, June 16th, 2006, 11:02 am EST
Category: Georgia Real Estate
As elections approach this summer and fall, I thought it would be worth researching some facts about the anti-growth platforms some politicians are running on. The Brookings Institution has a policy brief that illuminates the problems with anti-growth policy…
"Regional growth rates are determined by broad forces beyond the purview of any one or even several local jurisdictions. These forces include the region’s location in the nation, its climate, topography, demographics, physical size, natural resources, past investments made in it by specific industries and government agencies, and the national economic climate. So when one locality passes laws limiting future growth within its own boundaries, it does not affect the future growth rate of the overall region, but rather moves the region’s future growth to other localities, or to outlying unincorporated areas. Local growth limits, then, actually aggravate sprawl.
Regional net migration—both foreign and domestic—is the major variable influencing the pace at which a metropolitan area grows. Therefore, slowing a region’s growth requires discouraging net in-migration. But regions gain a lot of in-migrants because the areas possess traits that attract newcomers looking for jobs and a desirable quality of life. Most of these traits are almost impossible to change through policy, especially local policy. Therefore, those seeking to slow a region’s growth can reduce its attraction to newcomers only by curtailing some of the very attributes that attracted them. Examples are reducing job opportunities, raising housing costs, increasing taxes, insufficiently funding public schools, and failing to finance adequate infrastructure. But all these negative changes will also harm existing residents.
Moreover, it is more difficult to dissuade poor, unskilled immigrants from abroad than middle-income, educated in-migrants from the rest of the United States. Unskilled immigrants willingly accept housing, wages, and other provisions that educated migrants consider sub-standard, because immigrants regard such conditions as markedly superior to those that existed where they came from. Therefore, the less attractive a region is portrayed to newcomers, the more likely the mix of immigrants into it will shift toward higher percentages of poor and unskilled ones and lower percentages of middle-income, educated ones."
I found this brief very enlightening, especially considering reports of the migration numbers from the northeast to our local communities.
Atlanta Regional Commission takes larger role in Area Planning
Posted: Thursday, June 15th, 2006, 12:16 pm EST
Category: Real Estate News
The Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Ryan Mahoney reports that on May 24th the ARC board approved a more top-down policy framework that specific areas where high growth will be encouraged, emphasizing six “mega corridors” along Interstate 75 North and South, I-85 NOrth, I-20 East and West, and Georgia 400. The concept has been dubbed Envision6 (for the 6 million people who are projected to live here in 2030).
Why wasn’t I-575 included in this “mega corridor” concept? In the same article, Mahoney reports that the city of Canton is the fastest-growing in the nation and has added more than 3,000 new residents in the five years since the last census. He also states that many of those new residents have bought into mixed-use communities, according to Mayor Cecil Pruett.
If Canton is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation and if anyone has noticed the growth in traffic and population along I-575, then why isn’t I-575 a part of Envision6? All these “mega corridors” get catchy names like Envision6 and GA 400 has also been dubbed The Golden Corridor, yet I-575 rarely gets noticed and never gets a ctachy nickname.
I propose the local citizens who live in Cobb and Cherokee submit nickname suggestions for the I-575 Corridor. We should then do our best to spread the word of our new nickname to the press, local politicians and other citizens. We should not wait until on outsider brands our corridor, we should do it ourselves! Reply to this post with suggestions or email me your ideas at bnix@maxsellrealestate.com.
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For more information about the City of Canton, check out Canton Blogger.
