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Developers present 6-acre downtown concept; council presses for parking and stormwater details
Summary
Caldwell Development Investments (CDI) presented a concept plan for a mixed-use development on roughly six acres downtown including a hotel, food hall, offices and up to 20 residential units; councilmembers focused questions on parking supply, stormwater work and timing, and no formal approval was requested at the work session.
Caldwell Development Investments (CDI) representatives presented a master-plan concept for roughly six acres of downtown property to the Newnan City Council, proposing a mixed-use project that would include a hotel, a food hall, retail, office space and up to about 20 residential loft units.
Tom Kriembs, who said he is leading CDI’s local investor group, told the council the developers executed a letter of intent dated Dec. 2 and are seeking council feedback on a concept plan; if the council gives a preliminary thumbs-up in a future meeting the LOI provides a path into entitlement and a purchase-and-sale agreement among the city, CDI and the Newnan Development Authority. Kriembs said the development team has done geotechnical and topographic studies and preliminary coordination with Newnan Utilities on water and sewer connections.
Project scale and cost estimates provided by the presenters included about $5 million in initial public-infrastructure investment by the developer (storm drains, public roads, water and sewer) and roughly $20 million of building construction in phase 1. Kriembs said the overall project would deliver about 150,000 square feet of new construction across the site and estimated a roughly two-year timeline to complete phase 1 once work began, with six months for underground infrastructure followed by about a year for buildings.
Council concerns focused on parking, stormwater and the effect of trains and the railroad corridor. Councilmembers repeatedly pressed the developers to provide a clearer parking plan: Kriembs said the current site plan shows close to 250 parking spaces across phases 1 and 2, and that phase 1 alone would include about 200 spaces. He said the hotel partner would need approximately 120 spaces (described in discussion as 100 plus 20), and that structured parking may be a longer-term solution but is costly. Councilmembers said parking has been a long-running concern downtown and asked the developers to refine parking counts and options.
Developers also discussed stormwater and grading work; Kriembs said geotechnical studies support the planned four-story hotel location, but that storm-drain work is a major cost and must be buried under the new roadway. He said the development team anticipates relocating a sewer line that currently runs through the site and will coordinate necessary utility upgrades. Kriembs also said the team has spoken with the nearby Courtyard (hotel) owner to align designs.
No formal council vote or approval was taken during the work session; CDI’s presentation was a step in a multi-stage process and councilmembers asked staff and the developer to return with more detailed analysis of parking, stormwater and timing before council endorsement or a purchase agreement.
